Can high blood sugar cause joint pain

Diabetes can cause changes in your musculoskeletal system, which is the term for your muscles, bones, joints, ligaments, and tendons. These changes can cause numerous conditions that may affect your fingers, hands, wrists, shoulders, neck, spine, or feet.

Symptoms of diabetes-related musculoskeletal problems include muscle pain, joint pain or stiffness, lessened ability to move your joints, joint swelling, deformities, and a “pins and needles” sensation in the arms or legs.

Some musculoskeletal problems are unique to diabetes. Others also affect people without diabetes. For instance, diabetes can cause skin changes such as thickening, tightness, or nodules under the skin, particularly in the hands. Carpal tunnel syndrome is frequently seen in people with diabetes, as is trigger finger (a catching or locking of the fingers), although these conditions are commonly seen in people without diabetes, as well. The shoulder joint may also be affected in diabetes. And, of course, the feet are susceptible to problems caused by diabetes.

Most of these conditions can be successfully treated with anti-inflammatory medications, steroid injections, or other therapies. It is important to mention any troubling symptoms to your doctor.

Ask yourself the following questions, which address some of the more frequent symptoms people have when diabetes affects their muscles, ligaments, tendons, or joints. If you answer “yes” to any, consult your doctor.

• Do you have stiffness in your hands that affects your ability to move or use them?

• Do your fingers get “locked” in certain positions?

• Do you have numbness or tingling in your hands, arms, or legs?

• Do you have stiffness or decreased motion in your shoulders?

• Do you have muscle pain or swelling?

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Diabetes affects both the nerves and circulation which can result in joint pain and disorders developing in a number of areas of the body.

In terms of the complications of diabetes, joint disorders tend to get mentioned less than the likes of retinopathy and kidney disease but some of the conditions can be serious.

Charcot foot

Charcot foot, also known as Charcot arthropathy and Charcot joint, is the name for a condition which causes the foot to swell and, in progressed cases, deform.

Symptoms of Charcot foot include:

• Swelling or redness of joints in the foot
• Affected foot being warmer than the non-affected foot
• Pain in the affected area will be noticed

Charcot foot can affect any of the weight bearing joints in the foot including the ankle.

Charcot joint can be treated but the treatment takes time, up to several months, typically involving casting the foot and taking weight off it.

• Read more about Charcot foot

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis, meaning porous bones, is a condition which causes bones to weaken. Areas which tend to be affected are the spine, wrist and hips. Symptoms develop slowly and can be hard to notice until an event causes a bone to break or fracture, termed as a ‘fragility fracture’.

Treatment may include extra vitamin D and/or calcium in your diet and exercises to build up strength in the bones are often prescribed.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis includes inflammation of the tissues in the joints and damage to cartilage.

People who are overweight put extra strain on their joints and can increase the risk of osteoarthritis as well as making the condition more pronounced.

Osteoarthritis symptoms

Symptoms include:

• Pain
• Stiffness
• A grating sound or a limited range of mobility in the joints.

Osteoarthritis becomes more likely in old age, with 50 years old the age at which the condition starts to become more common.

Osteoarthritis treatment

Treatments for osteoarthritis mainly incorporate lifestyle changes such as:

• Exercise and losing weight
• Medication to treat the pain symptoms, such as paracetamol and codeine.
• Other treatment options include physiotherapy, occupational therapy and, in a smaller number of cases, surgery.

Tendon thickness

A study published in the American Diabetes Association journal found that there was a relationship between diabetes and a thickening of the bicep and the supraspinatus tendons, two tendons in the shoulder that are easily observable with ultra sound techniques.

The study found that 150 people with diabetes (100 type 2 diabetics, and 50 type 1 diabetics) had thicker tendons, a complication that became more pronounced with age.

Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis)

Frozen shoulder (known formally as adhesive capsulitis) is characterized by pain and stiffness of the shoulder which can lead to effects on the mobility of the shoulder. Frozen shoulder usually sees the body recover by itself, however, this can be a long process, sometimes over a few years.

There are three stages of frozen shoulder, from aching, through to increased stiffness and then to recovery.

Frozen shoulder treatment

Treatment may include:

• Pain killers
• Corticosteroids
• In the later stages, exercises or physiotherapy

Diabetes and hand disorders

A number of joint disorders affecting the hand are linked with diabetes.

These include:

• Diabetic hand syndrome
• Dupuytren’s contracture
• Tenosynovitis (trigger finger)
• Carpal tunnel syndrome

Read more on Diabetes hand and joint disorders

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