After entering the eventful autumn, the temperature gradually drops, the middle-aged and elderly people’s back and leg joints feel the fastest, pain attacks will also be more frequent. Is it true that when you get older, you should have back and leg pain? In the end, how to deal with back and leg pain? The culprit 1 osteoporosis osteoporosis can cause low back pain, which may not be well understood by many middle-aged and elderly people, they may only know that osteoporosis can cause fractures after a fall, but the osteoporosis can cause low back pain is still very unfamiliar. In fact, bone loss to a certain extent, there will be bone pain throughout the body, especially low back pain is common, people who do not know also think it is lumbar disc herniation! Tip: In Guangzhou area, the prevalence of osteoporosis is 16.2% for men and 42.6% for women aged 50-59, and 31.6% for men and 69.4% for women aged 60-69. Overall, the incidence of osteoporosis is more than twice as high in women than in men from the age of 50. If the following three symptoms occur, be alert to osteoporosis Pain Pain is the most common symptom of osteoporosis, generally bone loss of 12% or more can appear bone pain, especially low back pain, pain can spread along the spine to both sides, pain relief when lying down or sitting, pain increased when upright; light pain during the day, increased at night and early in the morning when waking up; bending, muscle movement, coughing, bowel movement aggravated. This is mainly due to the weight bearing of the spine. This is mainly because the weight-bearing capacity of the spine gradually decreases, so that the back muscles at rest are still contracting and active, and are continuously under tension, which makes it easy to have low back pain. Become short 3-6 cm, hunchback As the disease progresses, patients with osteoporosis will also appear to become shorter. “People get shorter as they get older” refers to the massive loss of calcium and loose bone structure, which easily leads to deformation of the spinal vertebrae, making each vertebrae compressed by 1mm-2mm and turning into a hunchback! The height of each vertebra in normal people is about 2 cm, and when the vertebrae are compressed in middle-aged and elderly people with osteoporosis, the height will be shortened by 3-6 cm. Fracture Fracture is the most serious complication of osteoporosis. This is because there is less calcium in the bones, the bones become loose and not hard enough, it is easy to fracture, generally speaking, when the bone loss of 20% or more, not to mention a fall, even sitting on the bus sneeze will occur fracture, the main fracture site is the spine, hip, shoulder joint and wrist joint. Response If you have back pain or even generalized bone pain, you can be treated with medication if you are found to have serious bone loss through bone density examination. There are three types of drugs commonly used in the treatment of osteoporosis: (1) drugs that inhibit bone resorption include calcitonin, bisphosphonates, estrogen, etc.; (2) drugs that promote bone formation include calcium, vitamin D, etc.; (3) other drugs include strontium salts, vitamin K, phytoestrogens, herbal medicine, etc. Generally, after 1-6 months of medication, the bone mass will change significantly so that the pain will be relieved. You should also adjust your lifestyle, such as getting more sunlight, eating more calcium-containing foods, like shrimp and milk; and exercising properly every day, such as walking and slow walking, to strengthen your bones. Culprit 2 Osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis is the main cause of back and leg pain, especially knee pain. The reason why middle-aged and elderly people are prone to knee pain is that the knee cartilage is most severely worn. Because the weight on the knee joint is four times its own weight when walking, and up to seven times its weight when climbing hills or going up and down stairs, osteoarthritis is most common in the knee joint. Tip: Once the cartilage in the joint is worn out, the bones will lack lubrication and rub against each other, causing pain, bone spurs, stiffness and swelling. Joint pain When the cartilage is badly worn out, the knee will have dull pain, soreness and swelling, especially when walking and going up and down stairs. As the condition worsens, some patients may experience knee pain even when sitting, along with walking inflexibility and joint stiffness. Once the weather turns cold or when living in a humid environment, the knee joints of both legs hurt even more. In folklore, many people call this “old cold leg”. Swollen joints Most patients also have swollen joints, swollen around the knee, and synovitis and joint effusion are found on examination, which makes it impossible to walk because the swollen joints and effusion do not subside easily. Even if the fluid does subside, it is likely to recur. Joint deformity Severe osteoarthritis can cause muscle atrophy adjacent to the affected joint, joint deformity, joint pain, decreased mobility, joint weakness, weak legs or joint locking when walking, and inability to fully straighten the leg. Response Because the blood supply to the knee joint is low, it is difficult to repair cartilage after injury. Therefore, once you have a “cold leg”, you can basically only undergo rehabilitation to avoid further aggravation and disability. First of all, you should pay attention to keeping warm, and try to wear warm knee pads in air-conditioned rooms in summer or in winter. Secondly, do not do strenuous exercises, do not climb mountains and stairs as a way to exercise, these exercises will accelerate or aggravate the degeneration of the joints. After middle age, try to choose swimming, jogging on flat ground, walking on flat ground, bicycling and other sports that cause less damage to the knee joint. Older people should try to use the toilet and not to “stilt their legs”. These small details are a good way to protect your knee joints. As the weather turns cooler in the fall, some people start to experience leg pain. Electrical stimulation, intermediate frequency electrotherapy, acupuncture therapy, etc. can stop the pain, while heat therapy, ultrashort wave, etc. can reduce inflammation and pain and swelling. If physical therapy does not solve the problem, medication can also be chosen according to the joint pain. Before using oral medications, it is recommended to choose local topical medication to relieve mild to moderate joint pain with mild adverse effects. For example, apply Furtalin cream, Ibuprofen cream, Fenbuterol ointment, etc. In severe cases, medications such as Benadryl and Piriton can be taken. In addition, you can use chondroprotective agents and herbal medicines that can benefit the liver and kidneys, disperse cold and dampness, and move Qi and blood, such as Xianling Bone Depot Capsules and Chen Li Ji Strong Waist and Kidney Pills. Reminder: many so-called “Chinese herbal medicine, Tibetan medicine, Miao medicine”, most likely added painkillers or hormones, need to be alert. The first symptom of lumbar disc herniation is lumbar pain, and the pain is often from top to bottom, and there is a certain pattern of transfer: from the lower back → hip → back of the thigh → outer calf → foot. The reason why the lumbar pain goes this way is because the nerve roots of the lumbar spine have become inflamed, edematous, and ischemic, and the function of this part of the innervation is damaged, leading to pain hypersensitivity, so the patient feels sluggish numbness or pain. It is also easy to differentially diagnose whether it is a lumbar disc herniation or not. Generally, there is a painful sensation with pressure on the lower back, and at the same time, the lumbar movement becomes inflexible, especially it is difficult to bend forward. Another standing lumbar spine X-ray examination will basically confirm the diagnosis. Response “In fact, 80% of patients can have their symptoms relieved by conservative treatment, or even just bed rest, and the majority of patients will have their symptoms improved after a month. You can participate in sports such as swimming, jogging, and functional exercises for the lumbar back muscles during the day. When lumbar disc herniation causes low back pain, the best way is to rest in bed so that the lumbar spine is not under stress and naturally there will be no pain. If the pain is severe, you can do lumbar hot compress, topical herbal plasters, oral painkillers and other methods to relieve the symptoms. Next, you can do pelvic traction, physical therapy and massage with massage to relieve local inflammation and edema. After treatment, although the condition of patients with lumbar disc herniation has been stabilized, once strain or sprain of the back can make the nucleus pulposus protrude again, leading to pain recurrence. Experts also remind that in the cold, wet season, if you do not pay attention to the back of the waist warmth, wind-cold dampness invade the body, but also easy to trigger the attack of lumbar pain. Of course, if conservative treatment is ineffective, surgical treatment is generally required, and small incision discectomy and microdiscectomy are recommended.