"Doctor, I have back pain, could it be a fracture?"
A while ago, I met a 60-year-old aunt who, for some reason, suddenly felt a back pain.
Is back pain a disease? Yes and no.
After all, on the age, many parts of the body have small problems, leg pain waist pain has been seen strangely, but also lazy to go to the hospital, even if there is somehow back pain is not too much to pay attention to, feel that after two days it will be good.
But this pain, after two days, still did not get better.
The aunt could only lie on the bed and did not feel the pain, as long as she turned over, especially together, the pain would be significantly aggravated.
After lying in bed for two days, feeling that this was not the way to go, the family quickly sent the aunt to the hospital to see if there was anything wrong.
After a simple physical examination found that the chest 12 vertebral body level, tenderness and percussion pain is obvious, and then carefully inquired, it turned out that the aunt participated in labor the day before the low back pain, and moved a home for her own family's flowerpot.
I didn't feel anything wrong that day, and I started to hurt on the second day.
What is this disease?
In fact, at this time, the doctor already had a slight answer in his heart, but in order to clarify the diagnosis, he still let the aunt do a thoracolumbar radiation, and when the results came out, the answer would be clearer.
Compressed fracture of thoracic 12 vertebral body.
"Doctor, am I really fractured?" Good end, how the spine is still broken? ”
This problem is very common in the clinic, especially in middle-aged and elderly women over the age of 60, osteoporosis will become more and more serious, and the resulting fractures are also very common.
Today we will take a look at the knowledge of osteoporosis vertebral compression fractures.
1. Osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture.
See the headline above? Doesn't it feel complicated to have such a long name?
In fact, it is not complicated, translated into Mandarin is a fracture of the spine, but the fracture of the bone is not due to serious violent trauma, but due to bone unclogging, so the bone has been fractured by a slight external force.
The incidence of osteoporosis is actually very high, not only in our country, but also in the world.
The incidence of osteoporosis in China is 6.6%, and there are almost 60 million to 80 million patients, which has obviously become a great threat to the health of Chinese residents.
Especially for female patients over 60 years old, women after menopause, osteoporosis will become more and more serious due to estrogen.
There are 700,000 cases of limb fractures caused by osteoporosis, and 16% of women have symptomatic vertebral fractures every year, so this is not a rare disease.
Because the bone strength weakens after osteoporosis, some ordinary external force will lead to bone compression fractures, and this external force is likely to make you ordinary to doubt life.
Sneezing, coughing, or even moving the flowerpot too hard can lead to fractures of the spine.
But what are the symptoms of this fracture?
Second, lying down does not hurt, turning over hurts.
In the symptoms of vertebral compression fractures, the most important manifestation is pain, and many people also come to the doctor with low back pain.
Especially when a fracture has just occurred, fracture pain in the acute stage is very common, and most patients will have this low back pain and the location of the pain is very clear, that is, the injured vertebral body.
Many people will clearly tell the doctor that this pain is almost not felt when lying flat, but as long as there is a change in body odor, such as when turning over, the pain will be significantly worsened, so many people not only dare not turn over, but even do not want to get out of bed.
However, is it that if it does not hurt, the fracture will heal?
Obviously, it's not that simple.
In the chronic phase, some patients will endure the pain to get out of bed and move a little, feeling that the pain is much better than before, so they are a little bolder.
However, at this time, it is easy to cause fractures, non-union and even prosthetic joints, which will pose a serious threat to the spinal cord and may lead to the occurrence of paraplegia.
If you choose not to continue to lie on the bed, although the pain is significantly reduced, but after a long period of bed rest, the bone strength will be further reduced, osteoporosis will become more and more serious, such patients will have chronic low back pain for a long time.
And the pain may not only be limited to the injured cone, but also cause pain in the surrounding skin, such as pain near the stomach under the ribs, which is very common, and occurs in 66% of patients.
But it's so painful and so uncomfortable, what if it feels like a fracture?
Third, leave it to the doctor for processing.
If the above situation really occurs, you feel that there are symptoms of pain in your lower back, and the history of osteoporosis is very clear, then don't hesitate, it is likely to be a compressed fracture of the osteoporosis.
What to do? In fact, there are many ways to deal with it, and generally speaking, there are two major types of treatment, conservative treatment and surgical treatment.
Conservative treatment is very simple, although it includes bed rest, but also the use of analgesic drugs, it is recommended to use external fixation of the brace, but the disadvantages of conservative treatment are also obvious, there is no way to correct spinal deformities, and this low back pain will exist for a long time.
Therefore, many patients will choose to undergo surgical treatment, whether it is open surgical treatment or minimally invasive surgical treatment, the purpose is very simple, so that the bone strength is better to help patients move early, and even to the ground, which also greatly improves the prognosis.
But which treatment should be chosen? The specific situation must be specifically analyzed, and it is recommended to follow the doctor's arrangement and choose the treatment method according to the condition of the fracture.
summary.
Osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures are not uncommon, in the current aging society, this is a multi-morbid, even common disease, but this disease seriously affects the quality of life of many middle-aged and elderly people.
What should we do in the face of osteoporosis? The answer is also very simple, that is, effective prevention.
Eat more foods containing more calcium, such as shrimp skin and soy products, while appropriately increasing outings and exercise, do not sit or lie at home all the time, even if it is a good way to increase bone density.
Remember, prevention is greater than cure, and fewer and fewer people want osteoporosis.
bibliography
[1] Yin Ping, Ma Yuanzheng, Ma Xun, Chen Bohua, Hong Yi, Liu Baoge, Wang Bingqiang, Wang Haijiao, Deng Zhongliang. Guidelines for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures[J].Chinese Journal of Osteoporosis,2015,21(06):643-648.