As people become more health conscious in modern society, “osteoporosis” is becoming more and more familiar to everyone. So what is osteoporosis and why does it occur? Does osteoporosis mean “calcium deficiency”? Why do I drink milk and take calcium tablets every day, but still have osteoporosis? 1.What is osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a systemic metabolic bone disease: in old age, with the change of hormones and metabolic level, resulting in the lack of active vitamin D in the body, which in turn causes the body’s utilization of calcium to decline, and bone mass to decrease; at the same time, due to the decline of muscle balance in the elderly is more likely to fall, resulting in the incidence of osteoporotic fractures in the elderly greatly increased. In addition, women entering menopause due to the decline of ovarian function due to the sudden reduction of estrogen in the body, will also lead to bone loss, accelerating the process of osteoporosis. The so-called osteoporosis is not simply “insufficient calcium intake”, nor can it be solved by eating more bones and calcium tablets; the reason is that the body’s ability to absorb calcium is not enough, in other words, even if you eat calcium tablets all day, if the body can not effectively absorb calcium into the bones, osteoporosis will still occur. 2, osteoporosis will have what kind of harm? Simple osteoporosis, in itself, most of the time there are no symptoms, so some doctors call it a “silent disease”. As osteoporosis becomes more severe, osteoporotic fractures may occur, especially in the spine, hip and wrist, resulting in low back pain, shortening of height, hunchback deformity, severe pain in the hip and wrist, and limited movement, which seriously affects the life of elderly patients. At the same time, some osteoporotic patients may suffer from microfractures that cannot be detected by X-ray examination due to minor external forces, resulting in delayed treatment and making patients suffer from persistent bone pain for a long time. According to the relevant statistics, the mortality rate of hip and spine fractures caused by osteoporosis in the elderly is as high as 20% within one year, and the disability rate is as high as an alarming 50%, which has attracted the high attention of the international medical community. 3.I am very worried about osteoporosis, what should I do? The pathological changes of osteoporosis involve multiple systems such as endocrine system, skeletal movement system and blood system, once it occurs, it is difficult to reverse the course of the disease, causing prevention of osteoporosis is more important than treatment! How to prevent it? Insist on drinking milk? Drink more pork ribs soup? Eat calcium tablets every day? Sunbathing every day? Why did I insist on drinking milk for several years and still end up with osteoporosis fracture? The above are only part of the anti-osteoporosis methods, it is because the occurrence of osteoporosis is the result of the joint participation of multi-system pathological factors, decided to anti-osteoporosis treatment is bound to need a multi-pronged approach, which is here to give you the recommended anti-osteoporosis “three axes” – – diet + exercise + drugs. -Diet + exercise + medication. In order to maintain bone health, the body needs to consume adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D from the diet every day. Calcium is the raw material for bone production, while vitamin D is the forerunner to promote gastrointestinal absorption and the body’s use of calcium. The ability of the elderly to synthesize vitamin D is only about one-third that of adults, so it is usually necessary to increase vitamin D supplementation while taking calcium supplements. Therefore, it is usually necessary to increase vitamin D supplementation along with calcium supplementation. Nutritional research suggests that the daily calcium intake of the elderly should be no less than 800-1000 mg. Foods with high calcium content include various dairy products, soy products, loach, mussels, snails, shrimp, shrimp skin, kelp, fried fish, oysters, peanuts, sesame paste, tofu, pine seeds, collard greens, cauliflower, cabbage, rape, etc. Foods rich in vitamin D include poultry, eggs, animal liver, deep-sea cod liver oil etc. Secondly, in addition to a proper diet, maintaining the right amount of daily exercise is indispensable, especially the right amount of outdoor exercise and ensuring sufficient sunlight exposure play an important role in the prevention of osteoporosis. Proper exercise can increase the strength of the skeletal muscle system. The most beneficial exercises for bone health are weight-bearing exercises, such as walking, jogging, stair climbing, tennis, dancing, Tai Chi, etc., all of which can strengthen the skeletal system, enhance balance and reduce the chance of fracture. In addition to the above mentioned calcium and vitamin D supplements for mild fractures and osteoporosis, selective treatment with bisphosphonates, estrogens and strontium salts is needed to improve bone mass and reverse the course of osteoporosis. To sum up, as long as the three axes of anti-osteoporosis are used reasonably and the usual observations are made carefully, the common hazards brought by osteoporosis can surely be effectively avoided. Although simple osteoporosis is a “silent disease”, it is not without signs and symptoms. When you or the elderly in your family have the following conditions, you should be alert to osteoporosis: 1. short height, hunchback 2. low back pain, activity aggravated, rest can not significantly reduce 3. poor nutritional status, anorexia or malnutrition caused by gastrointestinal diseases 4. smoking and alcoholic people with peripheral bone pain 5. chronic disease patients with long-term application of glucocorticoids ( Chronic nephritis, lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid) are prone to osteoporosis, while thyroid disease, diabetes, multiple endocrinopathies, primary hyperparathyroidism, secondary hyperparathyroidism, bronchial asthma, pulmonary heart disease, ankylosing spondylitis and many other diseases are prone to secondary osteoporosis. 6, age factor in the development of osteoporosis factors account for a large proportion, in women before and after menopause, that is, 45-50 years old, should be regular bone density check, while men generally after the age of 60 years old should also be regular bone density check.