The loss of bone mass is silent, and osteoporosis does not show any symptoms in the early stages, but in the middle and late stages, it can lead to back pain, generalized bone pain or muscle spasm, and limitation of movement. If there is a compression fracture of the vertebral body, it will also cause symptoms such as hunchback and short height, but these symptoms usually do not attract the attention of patients, so osteoporosis is also known as the “quiet epidemic”. The greatest danger of osteoporosis is osteoporotic fractures, also known as “fragility fractures”. A fragility fracture is a fracture that occurs under minor external forces or during daily activities. For example, in the last episode, Shang’s mother fell and held her hand on the ground, which could hurt her bones. There are also snow days fall a butt squat, it will cause vertebral compression fractures; carry a heavy pot of flowers, the arm will be fractured, these are fragility fractures. According to the survey, more than 20% of women over 50 years old will have one or more vertebral compression fractures, but many people do not notice. If a fragility fracture of the hip occurs, it may be the last fracture of life. How so? Because it is possible that this one fracture could bring life to a screeching halt. The survey found that the mortality rate of elderly people within one year after hip fracture is as high as 20%, and another 50% of patients will become disabled, unable to take care of themselves, and their quality of life will be significantly reduced. The follow-up medical treatment and care require a lot of human, material and financial resources, causing a heavy family and social burden. In addition, even if you are lucky enough to recover from a fracture, there is a second or third fracture waiting to happen! Some studies have shown that the risk of having another hip fracture after one hip fracture will increase 2 to 5 times, and the risk of having another vertebral fracture after one vertebral fracture will increase to 5 times. So we need to detect osteoporosis early, diagnose it early and treat it early to avoid fracture. First we can take a self-test to see if there are any risk factors for the disease, you can refer to the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Osteoporosis Risk One Minute Test questions. (1) Have you ever hurt your bones from a minor collision or fall (2) Have your parents ever had a hip fracture from a minor collision or fall (3) Do you regularly take hormonal drugs such as cortisone and prednisone for more than 3 months in a row (4) Have you lost height from your youth (more than 3 cm)? (5) Do you drink a lot of alcohol (6) Do you smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day (7) Do you often suffer from diarrhea (caused by digestive diseases or intestinal inflammation) (8) For women: Did you go through menopause before the age of 45 (9) For women: Have you ever had no menstruation for more than 12 months in a row (except during pregnancy) (10) For men: Do you suffer from impotence or lack of There are 19 questions in this one-minute osteoporosis risk test, so I won’t list them all because of space limitations. As long as the answer to one of the questions is “yes”, it is positive. This indicates a risk of osteoporosis, and further bone density tests are recommended. The most common and accurate method for measuring bone density is dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which is generally available in all major hospitals. For post-menopausal women or men over 50 years old, the result of bone densitometry gives a T value. If the T value is greater than -1, then congratulations, your bones are strong; if the T value is between -1 and -2.5, you should be aware that your bone mass has started to decrease; if the T value is below -2.5, unfortunately, you have developed osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is so dangerous, how to prevent osteoporosis, and how to treat osteoporosis? Please listen to the next time.