Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus has now emerged as a global cause of concern. Fatigue is a widespread and persistent complaint among diabetics. It is associated with a decreased ability to manage day to day activities. Muscles that are used intensively are more likely to get fatigued. Since the flexors of the fingers are used intensively even in an otherwise sedentary lifestyle, this group of muscles are assessed in this study.

Aims and Objectives: The study was done to compare the skeletal muscle fatigue in non-diabetics and controlled diabetics.

Materials and Methods: The study population consists of two groups of male participants in the age group of 30–40 years. The control group consists of 50 healthy volunteers. The test group consists of 50 controlled diabetics. Mosso’s ergography was done to assess the performance of flexors of the fingers of the non-dominant hand. Duration of onset of fatigue was noted. Work done was calculated. Windostat version 9.2 software was used for all statistical analysis. Comparison of variables between the two study groups was done using ANOVA.

Results: The duration of onset of fatigue and work done was significantly higher (P < 0.005) in non-diabetics than diabetics.

Conclusions: Normal non-diabetics had an ability to do more work without getting rapidly fatigued. Controlled diabetics got rapidly fatigued.

Key words: Diabetes; Skeletal Muscle; Fatigue; Flexors; Ergography