A recent study looked at links between muscle cramp frequency and severity and nerve fiber measures in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Persons with type 1 and 2 diabetes as well as healthy controls were given an evaluation and their large and small nerve fibers were assessed. Details about their muscle cramps were noted. There were 37 control subjects, 51 patients with type 1 diabetes and 69 with type 2 diabetes.

Muscle Cramps a Diabetes Complication?

The researchers state in their study paper that “Muscle cramps were the most frequent symptom captured by the Toronto Clinical Neuropathy Score (TCNS) in all groups, up to 78% in patients with [type 2 diabetes].” They also explained that in only those with type 1 diabetes, muscle cramp frequency and severity was tied to clinical, large, and small nerve fiber measures.

They concluded that muscle cramps are common diabetes and are associated with clinical and both small and large nerve fiber measures in type 1 diabetes, “suggesting that their origin and propagation might extend beyond the motor nerve,” wrote the study authors.

For the study, those with type 2 diabetes were older and had more muscle cramps, more severe cramps, and worse clinical and small and large nerve fiber measures when compared with those with type 1 diabetes. They also had worse nerve function, but this could have been due to the patients with type 1 diabetes being younger than those with type 2 in the study.

Researchers added that “These findings are in line with previous studies, describing muscle cramps in a large spectrum of polyneuropathies, including sensory and small fiber polyneuropathies (Lopate et al., 2013; Maxwell et al., 2014; Abraham et al., 2016), suggesting that the cause of muscle cramps may extend beyond the motor nerve.”