The phrase "she utters" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to describe someone saying a word or words out loud. For example, "The old lady uttered a sigh of relief when she heard the news."
The only difference is that when she utters "I have arthritis in my thigh", her utterance expresses her belief correctly only in the counterfactual world, and not in the actual world.
When she utters it, she purrs.
She utters them with preternatural calm.
At first she utters her usual hyperbolic cries of delight.
During one episode focused on health she utters a complaint familiar to many busy parents.
Every line she utters is infused with equal amounts of intelligence and impetuosity.
What really matters is Dench's supreme ability to give weight to every word she utters.
The words she utters don't convey the desperation in her voice.
"You're my lifeline and you're trying to kill me," she utters later.
The few words she utters squeak out of her mouth like those of a cartoon chipmunk.
St. Aubyn dryly reports that she utters this literary self-comparison "without any tiresome show of false modesty".
