Osteoporosis, do you really know?

The main symptoms of osteoporosis are:

(1) Migratory pain throughout the body: The most common symptom of primary osteoporosis, with low back pain being the most common.

(2) Shortening of height and hunchback: The human spine is mostly composed of cancellous bones, and this part is the pillar of the body. It bears a large weight and is easily compressed and deformed, forming a hunchback. As people age, osteoporosis worsens and the curvature of the hunchback increases.

However, the absence of the above symptoms does not mean that osteoporosis does not exist. In fact, most osteoporosis patients do not feel abnormal or the feeling is not obvious in the early stage. You cannot rely on your own feeling to find osteoporosis. Don't blindly delay time and don't wait until you find yourself with back pain or fracture before seeking diagnosis and treatment.

For premenopausal women (around 45 years old) and men around 50 years old, whether they have symptoms or not, they should go to a hospital equipped with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry for bone density examination regularly, which will help to detect changes in bone density. In addition, we must especially remind everyone that osteoporosis is not always primary, it can be caused by other diseases, such as hyperparathyroidism, malignant tumors, blood diseases, etc. These diseases are often hidden in their onset and not easy to be found, but the consequences are serious and should not be taken lightly. You should go to a regular hospital for treatment as soon as possible and get a clear diagnosis, which can win precious time for the best treatment.

Generally speaking, the elderly, especially postmenopausal women (who have low estrogen levels), are more susceptible to osteoporosis. However, osteoporosis is not a disease that only the elderly can get.

Modern medical research has shown that, regardless of gender, if bones grow healthily, the strongest period for bones is 20 to 40 years old. That is to say, the bones reach the highest bone mass and the best quality during this period. Whether the bones can reach the best condition is related to genetic and environmental factors.

Once you are over 40, the rate of bone loss exceeds the rate of bone formation, bone mass begins to decline, and bones gradually become brittle. As you age, the possibility of suffering from osteoporosis or osteoporotic fractures also increases.

However, if one neglects exercise in youth, is often picky about food or diets, and has an unbalanced diet, resulting in low calcium intake and thin body, and does not reject bad habits, then the ideal peak bone mass cannot be achieved, which will give osteoporosis, an old age disease, the opportunity to attack young people, especially young women.

It is worth mentioning that hereditary osteoporosis is also relatively common; people who eat high-protein (meat, beans) and high-phosphorus diets, lack exercise or are bedridden for a long time, smokers, alcoholics, those who take more than 7.5 mg of steroid drugs daily for more than one year, and thin people (body mass less than 19) are all prone to osteoporosis.

For people who need to prevent and treat osteoporosis, in addition to simple calcium supplementation, they should also supplement vitamin D. Because vitamin D deficiency makes it difficult to absorb calcium, you should eat more fish and fruits containing vitamin D, or take vitamin D medicine to help calcium absorption.

For patients who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, it is not advisable to blindly supplement calcium. They should go to the osteoporosis center of a regular hospital for standardized treatment. There is currently no sufficient evidence to show that calcium supplementation alone can replace other anti-osteoporosis drug treatments. And the treatment is not just calcium supplementation, but a comprehensive treatment to increase bone density, enhance bone strength and prevent fractures.

Some people think that if you take more calcium, you will definitely absorb more. In fact, this is wrong. Calcium is usually absorbed by the stomach and intestines first, enters the blood and becomes blood calcium, and then reaches the bones through normal metabolism. However, if you take too much calcium, it will be difficult to absorb, resulting in high blood calcium, which is not good for your health.

Calcium is a key substance to keep bones strong, but it is not the only one needed. The principle and purpose of preventing and treating osteoporosis is to increase the content of bone matrix and bone minerals in bones, prevent the decomposition of bones, promote its synthesis, and relieve or reduce the pain and discomfort caused by osteoporosis. Patients should choose the appropriate dosage according to different ages under the guidance of doctors to make up for the lost calcium, but the more the better is not the case.

In addition, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, a balanced diet, proper nutrition, moderate exercise, and regular sun exposure are equally important and cannot be replaced by medicine.

1. Balanced nutrition and appropriate calcium supplementation

Ensuring a rich and nutritionally balanced daily diet is the basic lifestyle for preventing and treating osteoporosis.

In terms of diet, you should eat more foods high in calcium and vitamin D, such as vegetables, fish, eggs, tofu, mushrooms, oats, dairy products, etc.

At the same time, you should also adhere to a low-salt diet, drink plenty of water, and keep your bowels open to increase your appetite and promote calcium absorption.

Pay attention to quitting smoking, limiting alcohol, and avoiding excessive consumption of coffee and carbonated drinks.

2. Promote physical exercise to increase adult bone reserves

The bones of young people are more sensitive to exercise than those of the elderly, so at the age of 35, you should start regular exercise, preferably weight-bearing activities, to increase bone mass reserves.

Choose the exercise method according to your own situation and do appropriate outdoor exercise. It can not only do weight-bearing exercise to increase muscle strength and coordination, but also absorb sunlight to promote the synthesis and conversion of vitamin D, which is beneficial for calcium absorption.

3. Adequate sunshine

In addition to being derived from food, vitamin D is also synthesized by the skin when ultraviolet rays from sunlight shine on it.

Adequate sunshine: it is recommended to expose the limbs and facial skin to the sun for 15 to 30 minutes (depending on factors such as sunshine time, latitude, season, etc.) from 11:00 to 15:00, twice a week to promote the synthesis of vitamin D in the body.

Try not to apply sunscreen to avoid affecting the effects of sunlight, but be careful to avoid strong sunlight to avoid burns to the skin.

4. Actively treat diseases related to osteoporosis

Such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, steatorrhea, chronic nephritis, hyperparathyroidism, hyperthyroidism, bone metastasis, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, etc.

It protects liver and kidney functions, is beneficial to the formation of active vitamin D, and is beneficial to bone mineralization.

5. Prevent fractures

The activity areas for elderly patients should have good lighting and a dry floor to prevent falls, and various measures should be taken to prevent falls.

If a fracture has occurred, surgery should be performed actively, and the rational use of internal fixation is recommended, because conservative treatment has a long course and can increase the risk of pressure sores, lung infections, thromboembolism, muscle atrophy, etc., while aggravating disuse osteoporosis and forming a vicious cycle.

The choice of surgical method should take into account the convenience of early postoperative activities, through comprehensive treatment such as physical therapy, physiotherapy, nutrition, calcium supplementation, analgesia, promotion of bone growth, curbing bone loss, improving immune function and overall quality.

6. Pay attention to mental health regulation

The impact of osteoporosis on the patient's mental state is often overlooked, mainly including psychological abnormalities such as sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, fear, and loss of self-confidence.

The elderly patients' decreased ability to live independently and lack of communication with the outside world after fractures can also cause psychological burdens such as social barriers.

We should attach importance to and pay attention to the mental health assessment of patients with osteoporosis and its fractures, and intervene according to the situation to enable patients to correctly understand osteoporosis and help them eliminate their psychological burden.