1. What is osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a systemic bone disease characterized by a decrease in bone mass and degradation of bone microstructure, resulting in an increase in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. 2. What are the common causes of osteoporosis? (1) Age-related osteoporosis: it is a physiological degeneration that inevitably occurs with age, most commonly in postmenopausal women, and almost all women over 65 years old have different degrees of osteoporosis. (2) Secondary osteoporosis: caused by long-term application of steroid hormone drugs, hyperparathyroidism, metastatic tumors, myeloma or rheumatoid arthritis, as well as long-term bed rest and minimal outdoor exercise. 3. What is osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture? The osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture can occur in patients with minor trauma or without obvious trauma, and the new fracture is mostly manifested as severe thoracolumbar back pain, difficulty in turning over, significantly increased pain when getting up and lying down, inability to get out of bed and walk, and inability to sit and stand for a long time, so the osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture has become one of the main causes of thoracolumbar back pain. 4. What are the hazards of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture? If osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture is not treated in time, it may leave: (1) chronic thoracic and lumbar back pain, which will not be cured for a long time and seriously affect daily life; (2) progressive aggravation of “hunchback” and shortening of height; (3) some patients can only be bedridden for a long time and increase mortality. 5. How to diagnose osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (1) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can show the location and degree of compression of vertebral fractures, especially to accurately identify fresh and old fractures. Since fresh vertebral fractures are the main cause of severe back pain, MRI should be preferred for examination; (2) CT two-dimensional reconstruction can show the vertebral fracture line, the integrity of the bone cortex at the posterior edge of the vertebral body, the degree of vertebral compression and the presence of free bone fragments in the vertebral canal, but it cannot distinguish between fresh and old fractures. (3) X-ray frontal and lateral radiographs can initially show the compressed vertebral body and the degree of compression, but cannot distinguish between fresh and old fractures. 6. Treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (1) Traditional treatment: including bed rest, oral pain medication, brace protection and muscle training. After 2~3 months of conservative treatment, about 60~70% of patients can relieve the pain of thoracic and lumbar back and resume self-care, but most of them remain hunchback deformity, about 30~40% of patients cannot relieve the back pain, although there is no obvious pain when lying in bed, but the pain is still more intense when turning, sitting, standing or walking out of bed and cannot live self-care. (2) Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP): less trauma, rapid pain relief, efficiency of 95% or more, most patients can get out of bed 2-4 hours after surgery, which can significantly shorten the course of the disease and improve the quality of life, and can strengthen the vertebral body and prevent further compression collapse.