Limited joint mobility is a type of rheumatism that causes the joints to lose their normal flexibility. Although most common in the hands (where it is also known as diabetic cheiroarthropathy), limited joint mobility can also affect the wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees, ankles and, in some cases, the neck and lower back. A classic sign of cheiroarthropathy is not being able to press the fingers together tightly in a palm to palm ‘prayer sign’. The affected fingers stay permanently bent.
Although in itself limited joint mobility is usually troublesome rather than painful or disabling, it is closely associated with microvascular complications of diabetes - nephropathy (kidney disease) and retinopathy (eye disease). It is particularly important therefore that people with this condition are screened for eye and kidney problems.
There is no specific diagnostic test for limited joint mobility, other than the prayer sign test for cheiroarthropathy, and healthcare professionals will need to consider your symptoms and medical history when diagnosing it. Often the skin appears characteristically thick and waxy on the back of your hand. Other hand conditions may also need to be investigated, eg Dupuytren's contracture and carpal tunnel syndrome, as it is possible that more than one thing is going on.
It is thought that about a third of people with diabetes have some degree of limited joint mobility. Like most complications of diabetes, good blood glucose control will help guard against it, as well as aiding recovery if it has already developed. Your healthcare team may be able to recommend exercises that will help restore some flexibility. Sometimes people are given steroid injections into the affected area and, in more extreme cases, where it is affecting a person’s ability to do day-to-day tasks, surgery may be required.