Arthritis and Diabetes: Imperfect Together
We couldn’t let the week pass without a look at the findings that arthritis and diabetes are fellow travelers in this country.
More than half of Americans diagnosed with diabetes also have arthritis, according to telephone survey data analyzed by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Arthritis, broadly defined to include rheumatic conditions such as gout and lupus, was more common in diabetics than people without diabetes, regardless of sex or age.
Is there some hidden link between the conditions, we wondered? “We don’t have any evidence that diabetes causes arthritis or that arthritis causes diabetes,” Chad Helmick, medical epidemiologist for the arthritis program at CDC, told the Health Blog. “Arthritis is very common among people with diabetes, even the young,” he noted. “We don’t know why there is an association.”
A health problem uncovered by the work is that 29.8% of people with both conditions were physically inactive compared with just 21% of those with diabetes alone. And the additional inactivity wasn’t explained by differences in sex, age or weight.
Being physically active can help people cope with diabetes and arthritis. Having arthritis pain may discourage some people from exercising. So Helmick suggested exercise that’s easy on the joints, such as swimming or walking. “There are things you can do to make sure you can live your life the way you want to live,” he said, adding, “things that don’t involve taking a lot more medication.”
Photo: iStockphoto
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This article is shallow beyond belief. You want to know something about the relationship of diabetes to rheumatic disease, you are better off with Google.
This just skims the surface. Web sites like http://www.creakyjoints.org are about educating and supporting those diabetics (with arthritis)…
yeah, we should encourage people with diabetes to do such very light activity that cannot harm them.
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precious
http://www.onlinehealthfitness.co.uk
a genetic condition know as hemocromotosis (not sure of spelling) but commonly know as the iron poisoning decease can result in both of these deceases and 1 in every 8 americans have this decease many do not even realize it
dr denise l faustman, see faustmanlab.org, ties together the underpinnings of autoimmune diseases, of which diabetes(or some variation thereof) is thought to be one (or more). with respect to arthritis, it is a generic word that would appear to encompass? rheuamtoid, psoriatic, and other variations commonly considered to be arthritis. Faustman’s work is spectacular and should be carefully studied and applied. It is better than most of what others try to pass off as useful and supported by science and/or experimentation.
Hello guys. I am Bhushan Ghate. I am from Nagpur, MS, India. I am suffering from ankylosing spondylitis since 1989. I am bedridden since 1996. But from few days i am able to walk with the help of walker. My bone density is too low. My doctor said that my bone density match to the bone density of 100-105 year old person. I am ankylose from neck to knee. That means i am having bamboo spine & my complete hip & both knees are ankylose. I had to undergo complete hip & both knee replacement surgery. But because of low bone density & my ankylosing spondilitis is still active, doctor has said no to replacement. Hope may be in future it will be possible. I want to meet & know people who are suffering from any type of arthritis or spondylitis. Also want to share my experince with thoes people who are intrested in arthritis or spondylitis. If any one want to contanct me my email address is bhushanghate2007@gmail.com. Also any body want to chat with me or want to share his experince please chat with me on buddylovesfriends@yahoo.com OR buddylovesfriends@hotmail.com.Till than buy. Have healty life. Hope to write more.
I suffer from ME and also oesteoarthritis in several joints and have had at least one joint replacement. It would appear from my personal experience that arthritis is also commonly experienced together with ME though I have seen no official recognition of this. Oesteoarthritis is so often blamed on inactivity or “wear and tear”, this is a contradiction. The inactivity theory does not account for the millions of people, perhaps office workers who drive cars and are couch potatoes who do not develop arthritis. It is obvious that arthritis is systemic and the cartilage is generally compromised in some way. Its time doctors and physios got honest about this, it is more logical that arthritis associated with other diseases is caused by some common systemic problem and not by inactivity alone.
WSJ's Health Blog offers news and analysis on health and the business of health. The lead writer is Jacob Goldstein. He came to The Wall Street Journal from the Miami Herald, where he was a medical writer. Scott Hensley, who covered the drug industry as a reporter for the Journal for seven years, is the editor and also a contributor. The blog also includes contributions from other staffers at the Journal, WSJ.com and Dow Jones Newswires. Write to us at 