A grandmother in her seventies, while bending over to carry a kettle suddenly developed back pain, the hospital diagnosed a lumbar spine compression fracture! What could have caused such a common action to lead to such serious consequences? The answer is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a systemic disease characterized by low bone mass and destruction of bone microstructure, resulting in increased bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. BMD is currently the best quantitative indicator for diagnosing osteoporosis, preventing the risk of osteoporotic fractures, monitoring the natural course of the disease, and evaluating the efficacy of pharmacological interventions. Nowadays, it is usually expressed by T value: T ≥ -1.0 is normal, -2.5 < T < -1 is bone loss, and T ≤ -2.5 is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is divided into primary and secondary, and since the former is more common, we will mainly talk about primary osteoporosis here. After middle age, as we age, the body's organs gradually undergo physiological degeneration, which can further affect bone reconstruction. This physiological degenerative change in the human tissue and organ systems during the natural aging process in the skeletal system is called primary osteoporosis. Although modern technology has made it possible to observe significant bone loss in patients using various methods, the patient himself can be asymptomatic, and this is when the situation we mentioned at the beginning may occur. And in the event of an osteoporotic fracture, the quality of life decreases and various complications can occur, even leading to disability and death! Although current medical technology has a variety of treatments for osteoporotic fractures, prevention is the key. First, we need to understand the risk factors for osteoporosis, which include controllable and uncontrollable factors. The controllable factors are ethnicity, old age, female post-menopause, and maternal family history. In contrast, the public is definitely more concerned about controllable factors, which include: low body weight, low sex hormones, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, coffee and carbonated beverages, lack of physical activity, calcium or vitamin D deficiency in the diet, and other diseases that affect bone metabolism and the application of drugs that affect bone metabolism, which are mainly seen in secondary osteoporosis. When it comes to prevention, of course, we should start with the little things in our daily life: (1) a balanced diet rich in calcium, low in salt and moderate in protein; (2) attention to appropriate outdoor activities; (3) avoidance of smoking, alcoholism and caution in the use of drugs that affect bone metabolism; (4) various measures to prevent falls. In addition, the Chinese Nutrition Society has set the daily intake of calcium at 800mg for adults and 1000mg for postmenopausal women and the elderly, and the average daily intake of the elderly in China is about 400mg, so the average daily supplement should be 500~600mg. However, for calcium and vitamin D supplementation as well as osteoporosis medication, it is recommended that you go to the hospital and use it under the guidance of a doctor. Once a vertebral compression fracture has occurred, how should it be treated? Currently, the commonly used treatments are percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP). Both are generally performed under local anesthesia, and the duration of the procedure is usually about half an hour, which is especially suitable for vertebral compression fractures in the elderly. It greatly avoids complications such as pneumonia and venous thrombosis of the lower extremities, and improves the quality of life of patients. Postoperative treatment was supplemented with anti-osteoporosis medication, and the patient was instructed to adhere to lumbar back muscle training to avoid re-fracture of other vertebrae. Postoperative pictures of lumbar compression fracture: preoperative X-ray: preoperative MRI.