May be osteoporosis if getting”shorter and Pain”

May be osteoporosis if getting”shorter and Pain”.  If you eat foods that contain calcium, but the body does not absorb it, it will be useless.

Recently, a 71-year-old lady visited multiple departments in our hospital because of back pain. She was worried about myocardial infarction, arterial dissection, and even biliary and pancreatic diseases. The doctor in the department recommended to our orthopedic clinic.

After our detailed consultation and physical examination, it was found that the old lady’s back pain appeared after folding the quilt, and there was no obvious pain in lying on the bed. Once she turned over or got out of bed, her pain aggravated, and her height became shorter in recent years. Pressing and tapping on the spine and the muscles next to the back pain caused obvious pain. Based on the above information, it is highly suspected that there is an osteoporotic fracture of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. After a magnetic resonance examination, it was indeed found that the 11th thoracic vertebrae was fractured. The “culprit” of back pain was finally found!

In fact, elderly people who experience severe or prolonged low back pain after minor trauma are likely to have a spinal fracture. In the public’s impression, spine fractures are serious things, and they often happen only after serious traumas, such as car accidents or falling from heights. The premise for this correct cognition is that the people who have suffered these severe traumas are often young people, with good bone quality, and only severe violence can fracture them. These patients are often “seriously injured.”

However, when we are old, with the degradation of bones and changes in bone metabolism, our bones gradually become “crispy” and even vulnerable. Minor injuries or activities in daily life will cause fractures, which we call Osteoporotic fractures. The biggest difference between low back pain caused by fractures and pain caused by myocardial infarction, arterial dissection or biliary and pancreatic diseases is that the pain is obviously related to the activities of the low back. The activities of the low back will aggravate the pain, while lying in bed will not move. When the symptoms are mild.

Of course, some elderly people are advised to go to the hospital for evaluation as soon as possible because of the deterioration of pain perception or their inability to describe their symptoms well. They should not be indifferent because of their own thoughts or trouble.

The incidence of osteoporosis may be higher than you think

In 2018, the results of some countries’s epidemiology survey on anaplasmosis showed that the prevalence rate of anaplasmosis among people over 50 years old in China was 19.2%, of which 6.0% were males and 32.1% were general; those over 65 years old The prevalence of osteoporosis reached 32.0%, of which 10.7% was male, and it was even as high as 51.6%. Studies have shown that men and women around the age of 50 are 13.1% and 39.7% more likely to suffer from anaphylaxis.

The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050, some countries will have 6 million cases of porosity. In view of such a high incidence, it is recommended that women over 50 years old and men over 65 years old should be screened for bone mineral density during routine physical examinations to understand their own osteoporosis. For those who have never passed prematurely, have broken bones, or have become short in height, The bone density should be checked earlier.

Common symptoms of osteoporosis: “short, pain”

So how should we pay attention to prevent the occurrence of osteoporosis? There are three common symptoms in patients with osteoporosis, which are camel, short and pain. First of all, osteoporosis is “targeted”, focusing on cancellous bones. The vertebral body in the spine is composed of cancellous bone, which is the main target of osteoporosis. The trabecular bone in the vertebral body is reduced and the gap is increased. The vertebral body becomes “empty” and cannot bear the weight. Compression fracture occurs.

It looks like a hunchback from the outside, and the upper body cannot be straight, and the measured height has become shorter. You can measure your height regularly at home. If your height is 4 cm lower than when you were young, you should be alert to osteoporosis. If you experience violence or minor external forces, such as coughing, lifting heavy objects, falling, folding quilts, and other household tasks, you experience pain in the relevant area, and it is obvious after the activity, you must be alert to whether an osteoporotic fracture has occurred.

Online tool to assess the risk of osteoporotic fractures

In the Internet age, everyone uses their mobile phones to scan Moments. Fortunately, you can assess the risk of osteoporotic fractures online within 10 years without going to the hospital. The WHO Fracture Risk Assessment Tool, FRAX® is a system developed by the World Health Organization to assess the probability of fracture in individuals aged 40-90.

Because it is developed based on real patient data and combines fracture probability with a variety of clinical risk factors, this system is good for hip fractures and fractures of the spine, forearm, hip or shoulder caused by osteoporosis within 10 years Predictive effect. You may wish to pick up your mobile phone or computer to search the FRAX website (https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/FRAX/tool.aspx?lang=chs) to quickly assess the risk of osteoporotic fractures in the next 10 years. It can be evaluated regardless of whether there is a bone density test result, but filling in the bone density result will make the evaluation result more accurate.

Essentials of prevention and treatment of osteoporosis: eat seriously and get more sun

Some people think that eating too much will make you fat, and believe that “a daughter is hard to buy old and thin”, so they try to avoid eating meat and custard. In fact, this is unnecessary. Calcium is the main component of bones. If the body lacks calcium, bone density will decrease, and then osteoporosis will develop. The daily intake of calcium in the daily diet of Chinese people is generally insufficient. It is recommended that the 65-year-old take 1000 mg of calcium a day.

Why not study the recipe when you go home today. Calcium-rich foods include shrimp skins, milk, dried tofu, etc. Drink 250ml milk for breakfast, and eat more calcium-rich rapeseed, celery and other vegetables for lunch and dinner, and add appropriate amount of shrimp skins or tofu. Dry, can not only add deliciousness, but also get the calcium needed for a day.

If you cannot eat meat due to religious factors, you can drink soy milk instead or take calcium supplements. Sufficient protein supplementation can reduce muscle loss in the elderly and prevent sarcopenia, which is also very important for maintaining bone density and reducing the risk of falls.

If you eat foods that contain calcium, but the body does not absorb it, it will be useless. The human digestive tract needs the help of vitamin D to absorb calcium, and 80% of the vitamin D needed by the human body comes from the skin receiving sunlight, and the remaining 20% ​​is a food source.

It is recommended to go outdoors in the early morning or before sunset. Avoid strong direct sunlight at noon to make the skin produce vitamin D, which will act on the intestines after metabolism to promote calcium absorption. In addition, outdoor activities can also increase muscle strength, train the ability of limb balance and coordination, and reduce the risk of falling during activities. It really kills two birds with one stone.

(source:internet, reference only)

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