REVIEW Musculoskeletal manifestations of diabetes mellitus

Rheumatic complaints are common in patients with diabetes. Maintaining good glycaemic control by exercise, diet, and medication improves or prevents the development of rheumatic conditions. Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic con-dition characterised by persistent hypergly-caemia with resultant morbidity and mor-tality related primarily to its associated microvascular and macrovascular complications. It is common, with recent estimates showing that 7.5 % of Australians over 25 have diabetes, of which 50 % of cases are undiagnosed.1 Most of these patients (85%) have type 2 diabetes mellitus. Type 1 generally starts in the young as an autoimmune mediated disease of pancreatic dys-function, and requires lifelong parenteral insulin supplementation. Type 2 generally occurs i