What you should know about osteoporosis Q&A

Q:What is osteoporosis?

A:Osteoporosis is a systemic disease, which is a generalized bone disease caused by low bone mass, increased bone fragility, and susceptibility to fracture with age and other reasons. Osteoporosis is a systemic disease that is caused by low bone mass, increased bone fragility, and susceptibility to fracture as we age. The most important danger of osteoporosis is bone fracture.

Q:What are the types of osteoporosis?

A:Osteoporosis is relatively common and can be categorized in these ways:
The first is primary and secondary. The first type of primary osteoporosis is postmenopausal osteoporosis. The first is postmenopausal osteoporosis, which is usually seen in women 5-10 years after menopause, and is characterized by low bone mass, leading to increased bone fragility.

The second type of osteoporosis is senile osteoporosis, which is usually seen in people over the age of 70. This is a condition where we have a higher chance of developing osteoporosis as we age.

The third type is called idiopathic osteoporosis. This idiopathic form of osteoporosis is usually seen in adolescents and is less common.

The fourth type of osteoporosis is secondary osteoporosis, which is caused by other diseases or medications, including diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism, or long-term use of hormones, steroids, etc. The fourth type of osteoporosis is secondary osteoporosis.

Q:What are the symptoms of osteoporosis?

A:Osteoporosis is also known as the “silent disease”, usually there are no symptoms, and often patients wait until they have a fracture before they go to the doctor. The main symptoms include: pain and discomfort in the joints of the back and limbs, shortening of height, which is called “old man’s shrinkage” in Cantonese, hunchback deformity, fracture with slight external force, and some psychological and emotional changes.

Q:How can I tell if I have osteoporosis?

A:You can evaluate yourself by taking the 1-minute test for osteoporosis:

Dual-energy X-ray bone densitometry can also be performed:
If the measured T-value is between plus and minus 1, this is normal.

If it is between -1 and -2.5, this is called bone loss.

Then if it is below -2.5, it is called osteoporosis.

Q. What should I do if the test reveals that I have osteoporosis?

A. Calcium and vitamin D supplementation is essential if the bone density measurement is for bone loss. There are many ways to take calcium supplements, such as taking calcium tablets, milk, shrimp, more sun exposure, etc. It is also important to focus on vitamin D supplementation to help absorb calcium.

If osteoporosis is already present, you need to do some anti-osteoporosis medication to avoid osteoporotic fracture.

Q. What should I do if I have an osteoporotic fracture?

A: In modern medicine, as long as the patient’s whole body is in good condition, he/she will not suffer from osteoporosis. In modern medicine, as long as the patient’s general condition is good, surgery is usually recommended. In the past, it was often said that “it takes 100 days for a fracture to heal”, meaning that it takes a long time for the fracture to heal.

Nowadays, we can use different surgical methods depending on the location of the fracture. For example, compression fractures of the lumbar or thoracic spine can be treated with vertebroplasty, a minimally invasive procedure that can be performed under local anesthesia, in which biologic bone glue (bone cement) is inserted into the vertebral body for immobilization. After this treatment, the pain caused by the fracture will be significantly reduced and the patient can get up and move around immediately.

In addition, for fractures in the elderly population, it is important to add anti-osteoporosis treatment, which is targeted according to the underlying cause of the fracture.

In the final analysis, it is important to prevent osteoporosis in advance, and only by doing so can re-fractures be minimized or avoided.