Diabetic Bone Disease

Diabetic bone disease is a generic term that refers to any number of bone diseases incurred secondary to diabetes. People with diabetes are at an increased risk for several conditions that can affect the bones as well as the joints. If you are diagnosed with diabetes, it is important to work with your doctor to maintain a healthy weight, eat a well balanced diet, exercise and monitor your blood glucose levels regularly. This will help you manage your diabetes and avoid potential diabetes-related complications.

Osteoporosis

• Osteoporosis is a condition in which the bones lose density, which causes them to become brittle and easily broken. According to CNN's Health Library, there is evidence suggesting that "people with type 1 diabetes have lower than normal bone density," which increases their risk of developing osteoporosis. The symptoms osteoporosis include back pain and bone fractures. Osteoporosis also causes people to get shorter over time. Medication to help slow the loss of bone density are used to treat osteoporosis, but the condition cannot be cured.

Osteoarthritis

• Many of the body's joints contain cartilage. In osteoarthritis, also called degenerative joint disease, the cartilage in the joints starts to deteriorate and cause joint pain. Osteoarthritis is often associated with type 2 diabetes. Because type 2 diabetes and obesity are related, it is not clear whether diabetes itself causes osteoarthritis or if the arthritis is caused by obesity. Osteoarthritis symptoms include pain in a joint when it is being used and when the weather changes. Osteoarthritis will also cause swelling and stiffness in the joints. Treatments for osteoarthritis include exercises to increase mobility, pain mediation, anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy and surgery.

DISH

• Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hypertosis, or DISH, is a condition in which extra tissue forms on the bones where the ligaments and tendons attach to them. DISH is believed to be caused by insulin used to treat type 2 diabetes. People with DISH are often asymptomatic until the condition begins to affect the spine, causing stiffness in the neck and back. Physical therapy is used to sow DISH's affect on the neck and back, and overweight patients are advised to lose weight.

Charcot's Joint

• Charcot's joint is a condition that affects 15 percent of diabetics, typically affecting those people with type 1 diabetes and nerve damage in the feet. Charcot's joint is known by several names, including diabetic osteoarthropathy, neuropathic anthropathy and neuropathic joint disease. In Charcot's joint, nerve damage in the foot causes the bones to deteriorate until eventually they collapse, causing a deformity of the foot. Symptoms of Charcot's joint include numbness, tingling, ulcers, swollen joints and foot and ankle deformities. To treat Charcot's joint, doctors use braces and other methods of joint immobilization to keep the affected parts of the foot still. Crutches are also sometimes needed to keep weight off of the affected foot.

Frozen Shoulder

• Frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis, is a problem involving the shoulder joint. The cause of frozen shoulder is unclear; however, the condition affects diabetics at a higher rate (20 percent) than it does the general population (5 percent). Frozen shoulder usually begins as pain when the shoulder is moved. Eventually, the problem progresses until the pain subsides, but the shoulder's range of motion is severely limited. Eventually, the shoulder's condition improves on its own. Unfortunately, the process of pan, freezing and release can take months or even years.