Osteoporosis is a term we often hear in our daily lives, and many people suffer from it, so what exactly is it a disease? How to treat osteoporosis? Can it be cured? Q: Hello, Director Li, you are an expert in the treatment of osteoporosis, today I would like you to talk to our readers about what exactly is osteoporosis? How should it be treated? Director Li: Osteoporosis is a common disease in the elderly, mainly due to the degeneration of bones. By definition, it is a disease in which the bone mineral and bone matrix are reduced in equal proportion, the bone microstructure is degraded, the bone strength is reduced, and fractures are likely to occur. The main manifestations of osteoporosis are: bone pain, shorter height, inability to hold weight, and fracture easily. Bone pain caused by osteoporosis is mainly low back pain in the early stage and heavy pain at night, once the height becomes shorter, it means that there are already vertebral compression fractures, hip fractures and femoral neck fractures, which will directly affect the quality of life of the elderly and may affect the life expectancy. It is irreversible when there are fractures, shortening of height and hunchback. The causes of osteoporosis are physiological and pathological, and the physiological factors are: 1. osteoporosis. Pathological factors include metabolic diseases, such as hyper- or hypothyroidism, which can lead to premature bone degeneration; diabetes can also accelerate the degeneration of bones; ovarian removal and premature menopause in women can result in low estrogen levels and premature osteoporosis; patients with renal insufficiency can also suffer from osteoporosis, because renal insufficiency can lead to excessive calcium loss, especially in long-term renal dialysis patients; longer-term use of Adrenocorticotropic hormone, can also lead to osteoporosis; long-term weight loss can also trigger osteoporosis. Our bones begin to rise from birth, is the storage accumulation stage, at this time is the bone formation is greater than bone resorption, at the age of 30 years into the plateau, bone resorption and bone formation equal, regardless of male and female, bone volume will not rise again, maintain the balance of the physiological state, this plateau period will last until the age of 50 years old for women and 60 years old for men, and then began to decline. But how much accumulation varies from person to person, before the age of 30 if the accumulation of more, the decline will last longer. The key to this variation is a combination of genetics, diet, living environment, exercise, lifestyle and other factors. Q: What kind of symptoms will osteoporosis have? Director Li: The role of the bones in the human body are support, protection of organs, movement, but also a storehouse of calcium involved in calcium and phosphorus metabolism. Osteoporosis symptoms are mainly pain, most of the early performance of low back pain, later will appear the whole body pain, and accompanied by weakness, shortness of breath, can not hold the weight, easy to sweat, leg cramps and many other performance, some patients are afraid of cold without sweat. Q: If a middle-aged or elderly person has low back pain, how can you tell whether it is caused by osteoporosis or other back diseases, such as lumbar disc herniation? Director Li: Osteoporosis can be diagnosed by measuring bone density. But in fact, bone density also shows a lot of artifacts, some people’s bones are already very poor, lumbar spine compression fracture, but the bone density shows a normal amount of bone, which requires a professional doctor to judge. In fact, problems such as lumbar disc herniation, spinal stenosis and osteoporosis are all related in some way. After a certain age, the bone mineral of the bone species decreases, the bone hardness is not enough, the ability to carry the weight is not good, the vertebral body will slowly atrophy, the intervertebral disc is loose, and the loosening will easily trigger the disc bulge and protrusion. As well as the occurrence of cervical spondylosis is also a series of syndromes caused by micro changes in bone structure, these diseases are related to bone degeneration. Q: What kind of body type is more prone to early onset of osteoporosis? Director Li: In terms of gender, women are more prone. Women have a great impact on the bones after the estrogen level decreases. Secondly, people with weak spleen and stomach are more prone, such as thin women with poor spleen and stomach function, which is manifested in two ways: on the one hand, they are actively picky and petulant, not eating this or that; on the other hand, they are passive and immediately have diarrhea after eating some hot or cold uncomfortable food. Such patients have poor digestive and absorption functions, and osteoporosis can easily occur with poor bone nutrition. Actresses, models, excessive weight loss and long-term vegetarians are prone to premature osteoporosis. Genes, genetic factors, also very relevant, young people if their parents are osteoporosis, must be early prevention. Another important point is that osteoporosis is a degenerative disease of aging, which, like ageing, cannot be reversed, but can only slow down the aging process. Bone density cannot be substantially reversed either. Once again, prevention is more important than treatment. Q: Could you please tell us the difference between Chinese herbal therapy and Western medicine treatment? Director Li: We need to introduce the mechanism of osteoporosis first. From childhood to adulthood is a bone formation stage, which is a process in which bone formation is greater than bone resorption; after reaching adulthood, bone resorption and bone formation are in balance; in old age, it is active bone resorption and low bone formation, and it is bone resorption that is greater than bone formation. The formation of osteoporosis is a process in which bone resorption is greater than bone formation, resulting in bone atrophy and degeneration. Currently, worldwide, Western medicine is currently treated with basic drugs, namely calcium preparations and vitamin D 3, bone resorption inhibitors: calcitonin, sodium allantoin phosphate, and bone formation promoters: teriparatide (not yet commonly used). The latest research shows that excessive intake of calcium preparations can increase the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease events, can promote the occurrence of atherosclerosis, and therefore does not advocate large amounts of supplementation, so how do you do lack of calcium in the bones? Use herbs or take it from food and eat a balanced diet. In addition, the calcium we ingest, can all be absorbed into the bones? It has to go through a process of absorption in the gastrointestinal tract and also blood transport before it can be transported to the bones. If a person has poor absorption, or blood stasis, or if the elderly have poor blood circulation, very little of it will eventually reach the bones. Q: What are the advantages of TCM treatment? Director Li: First, it is individualized treatment, to determine the patient’s constitution, the same diagnosis of osteoporosis, the patient’s age, disease duration, performance will be very different, some people are afraid of cold, some people are afraid of heat and sweating, some people are easy to diarrhea, some people are constipated and bloated, whether the spleen and stomach absorption function is poor, whether blood stasis constitution, the overall identification of each person to develop an individualized treatment plan is particularly important. Western medicine is a clear target of drug action, while Chinese medicine has a vague target of action, but many targets of action, which can inhibit bone resorption and promote bone formation to achieve a comprehensive improvement of symptoms of osteoporosis patients and slightly increase bone density. Q: So how should patients judge the effect of treatment? Director Li: The first is symptom improvement, pain control, and improvement of each patient’s individual symptoms, and the efficacy of Chinese medicine treatment to improve patients’ symptoms is outstanding. This is the international standard, because the bone density will decrease as the age increases, so it is progress if it does not decrease. Q: How long is the course of osteoporosis treatment in general? Director Li: The course of treatment is relatively long. The international standard is one year of intervention for evaluation. Q: Can osteoporosis also cause fractures? Director Li: The biggest threat of osteoporosis is fracture. It is not a fracture triggered by external collision as we usually imagine, it is a quiet and silent process, for example, when an elderly person says I have become shorter, it is a compression fracture. Because our spine is made up of vertebrae, the vertebrae are not hard enough to support, so they compress a little. A hunchback is also a reaction to a compression fracture. There are also people who experience sudden vertebral fracture deformities when they bend over or cough. Compression fracture brings not only changes in the bones, but the bones have the function of supporting and protecting the organs. If a compression fracture occurs, our internal organs will also be squeezed, and the lungs and heart will cause less space to move around, causing different degrees of cardiopulmonary depression, and some people also have recurrent lung infections, which are all related to osteoporotic compression fracture. Q: In this way, it seems that everyone should actually pay serious attention to this osteoporosis problem. Director Li: Yes, this is a very common problem. Older people can develop multi-system diseases, and Chinese medicine believes that human is an organic whole and all systems are interrelated and affect each other. Once a compression fracture occurs, all organs will be affected and it is difficult to reverse. Q: How to prevent osteoporosis? Director Li: If there is a gene for osteoporosis in the family, women should be screened from the age of 45. If there is no genetic history, they should also pay attention to their diet, have a balanced diet, do not be partial and picky, and do not advocate a vegetarian diet. For example, shrimp, kelp, black sesame and other foods are relatively high in calcium and can be consumed more often. Q: Can osteoporosis cause bone cancer and other diseases? Director Li: No, these are two concepts. Osteoporosis is a physiological degeneration and will not cause bone cancer.