In life, we often encounter the elderly suddenly appear waist pain, back pain, and in serious cases, often unable to walk or even unable to move. Many people think it is accidentally flash back, lie down in bed to rest maybe only a little pain, a turn over – but a sharp pain. What exactly is the cause? Why does it hurt so much? Why does it hurt when you move around? What should I do? When back pain suddenly appears in the elderly, patients and family members often take it for granted that it is a normal phenomenon of the aging of the elderly, or just a simple sprain, and ignore the existence of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, thus delaying the time for consultation and treatment. According to Dr. Zhang Shuncong, chief physician of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the “low back pain”, “hunchback” and “shortening” of the elderly are actually osteoporotic vertebral compression Fractures, delayed treatment, is very likely to cause kyphosis, persistent low back pain and other sequelae lingering, extremely difficult; serious cases even due to the collapse of the vertebral body, resulting in spinal nerve compression, paralysis of the lower limbs, urinary and fecal dysfunction. With the intensification of the aging process of the population, there are currently about 80 million people in China suffering from different degrees of osteoporosis. Some scholars have studied that by 2020, it is expected that the number of osteoporosis patients in China may exceed 200 million. Osteoporosis, as the name implies, is a decrease in the density of the human skeleton, causing a decrease in bone strength. The main danger is that the bones are prone to fracture – i.e. fracture – in the presence of a slight external force or even no significant external force. The most common sites include: thoracolumbar spine, upper femur, forearm radius and ulna. Fractures of the thoracolumbar spine are the real “culprit” for the sudden onset of acute low back pain in many elderly people. In life, the most common advice that elderly people hear from their families is “walk to prevent falls”, thinking that as long as they do not fall, they will not fracture, not knowing that for some elderly people with severe osteoporosis, it may be just a cough, a sneeze, bowel movement, bending down to pick up something incorrect posture, the most common behavior in life, are Of course, a sharp brake on a bus or the bump of a wheel running over a rock is often the culprit of a vertebral compression fracture. Because these traumatic injuries are not obvious compression fractures, these fractures are often the most easily ignored by patients and family members, delaying the time to seek medical attention and making it more difficult to deal with. Dr. Zhang Shuncong, chief physician, said that many elderly people seen in the clinic have developed a shortened and anteriorly inclined spine because they did not care about low back pain at the beginning, resulting in the most common scenario in life: hunchback (kyphosis). The hunchback not only makes daily activities such as walking and reaching for objects difficult and laborious, but also affects the breathing function of the elderly due to the deformation of the thorax, resulting in symptoms such as chest tightness, shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing. The prolonged bed rest caused by persistent low back pain increases the incidence of bed sores, lung infections, and urinary tract infections, each of which may lead to the end of an elderly person’s life. So what should an elderly person at home do if he or she suddenly develops low back pain and has difficulty moving around and is considered to have a possible vertebral compression fracture? Dr. Zhang Shuncong, chief physician of the spine specialist at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, suggests that the elderly should first be advised to reduce their activities and lie in bed as much as possible to avoid further collapse of the vertebral body. Then the patient should be taken to a regular hospital orthopedic or spine specialist with a flat cart or wheelchair as soon as possible, and should not blindly receive massage, massage, traction, etc., but should be treated appropriately after the condition is clear, otherwise the condition may be aggravated by inappropriate treatment. The symptoms of vertebral compression fractures are easily confused with other back problems and are therefore easily overlooked by patients, except for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, and even malignant tumors that cause vertebral compression fractures are sometimes overlooked and missed. Zhang Shuncong, chief physician, introduced the symptoms of vertebral compression fracture features include: sudden onset of low back pain, pain relief when lying down, pain aggravation when turning or moving, and pain aggravation at night. Diagnosis of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture mainly relies on the patient’s age, medical history and imaging examinations, such as X-ray, CT, MRI examination, of which MRI examination is the most reliable imaging examination. The traditional treatment for vertebral compression fractures caused by osteoporosis includes long-term bed rest and pain medication, but long-term bed rest can lead to increased osteoporosis, and increased osteoporosis can easily lead to new fractures. Also, bedsores, lung infections, and urinary tract infections are complications that can easily occur and threaten the lives of elderly patients. Dr. Shuncong Zhang, chief physician, here introduces a new minimally invasive treatment: vertebroplasty. Vertebroplasty is a very minimally invasive procedure that is performed without incisions and after local anesthesia. A special puncture needle is used to access the fractured vertebral body directly through the skin under surveillance, and a cement (bone cement) is injected into the fractured vertebral body to fix the fractured vertebral body and reduce pain. Patients are able to move around on the ground the day after surgery, and the pain in the low back is usually significantly reduced with an average hospital stay of 3 to 5 days. Dr. Zhang Shuncong, chief physician, believes that this treatment method not only breaks the old saying that it takes 100 days to break a bone, but also effectively improves the quality of life of elderly patients and is worth recommending to the majority of elderly patients.