I. Why the high incidence? There are two main reasons.
1. Physiological characteristics of the elderly.
Overweight body, slow movement, poor balance, easy to fall.
Weak muscle strength, osteoporosis, fragility, the slightest external force, very easy to fracture.
2, the climate has a greater impact on the elderly, expressed in three aspects.
Low temperature, slippery ground and easy to freeze.
Clothes are bulky, resulting in a lower gait coordination function.
Muscles stiffen when cold and cannot relax and contract effectively to fight falls in time.
Second, which three parts of the fracture?
The fracture site is related to the position of injury
? Wrist fracture: When falling, the palm of the hand hits the ground and the force acts on the wrist.
Thoracolumbar vertebrae: when falling, the hip lands on the ground, conveying violence to the thoracolumbar vertebrae.
Hip: the limb lands sideways when falling, and the violence acts on the hip.
Third, the danger of fracture: high disability rate and high mortality!
1, although the wrist fracture has the lowest mortality rate, but the disability rate is high: if the failure or mismanagement, the impact on the function of the upper limb is greater. Because of the inflexibility of the legs of the elderly, the function of the hand is important for the quality of life, and with a wrist disability, it is quite difficult to take care of oneself.
2, hip and vertebral fracture disability rate is high, mortality rate are high. If timely and accurate treatment is not available, bedridden for a long time, various complications may occur, such as bedsores, respiratory and urinary tract infections, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, gastrointestinal dysfunction, all of which can cause death. Therefore, many elderly people are bedridden, not because of internal diseases, but because of fracture complications.
IV. How to give first aid before hospital?
If the pain is in the hip, do not stand up, call 120 and wait for a stretcher to come; if the pain is in the back, lie down on your side, but do not sit up, and send to the hospital in the prone position. MRI is preferred for examination, because MRI is more sensitive than CT and X-ray for osteoporotic fractures in the elderly.
V. Why is treatment tricky?
Elderly people have low physiological function, fractures are difficult to heal, and they are mostly combined with serious medical diseases such as hyperlipidemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular. Conservative treatment is long, slow, and has a poor prognosis; while open fractures of the wrist are not ideal, and traditional open surgery for hip and vertebral fractures is more damaging and risky.
VI. How to treat? The combination of Chinese and Western medicine has advantages.
1, wrist fracture: early Chinese medicine orthopedic, closed manipulation reset, small splint or plaster fixation, most of them only need to be fixed for 4-6 weeks, after removing the external fixation, Chinese herbal medicine is applied externally or externally to facilitate recovery. Features: less injury, less pain and more ideal healing.
2.Hip fracture: if the physique can tolerate it, artificial hip replacement is preferred, which can free the patient from bed in 1-3 weeks.
3.Thoracolumbar vertebral segment fracture: minimally invasive treatment is preferred. Vertebroplasty is performed under local anesthesia only. Features: small injury (two small stitches), fast results (fast pain relief, most of the next day out of bed), low risk.
Seven, focus on prevention
1.Rain and snow, slippery ground, minimize going out, indoor activities.
2. Dress warmly, but try to be light. Buy clothes and shoes can not just focus on cheap, non-slip, good quality.
3.Choose a fitness method suitable for you, try to avoid strenuous exercise, such as: climbing, running and jumping, walking backwards, falling whip, riding electric bicycle, hitting trees, etc.
4, early prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.