How to treat osteoporotic lumbar compression fracture in old age An osteoporotic lumbar compression fracture in old age is a pain in the lower back caused by minor violence, such as bending over to carry something, slipping and sitting on the floor, or even a violent cough, and the lumbar vertebrae are found to be compressed (lumbar compression fracture) by X-ray and other examinations. In layman’s terms, flattening = bone fracture = fracture, and compression flattening is also called fracture. 1. What are the problems associated with a compression fracture? Firstly, it causes severe pain in the lumbar region, and it is very difficult to sit, stand, or even turn over in bed; secondly, since there are rich nerves near the lumbar spine, the fracture hematoma can cause widespread pain in the ribs and the entire lumbar region, and if the fracture block presses on the nerves, there may also be pain in the lower limbs, or even paralysis and incontinence. Therefore, if an elderly person accidentally falls and has low back pain, the first thing to consider is whether there is a fracture, do not just move around, especially can not go back to bending work, etc., try to bed rest, if possible, as soon as possible to seek medical attention. 2.If unfortunately a compression fracture occurs, how should I treat it? There are two kinds of treatment, one is conservative treatment, as the name implies, is not to do surgery, rely on medicine, bed rest, rehabilitation exercises to recover. Take medicine, mainly symptomatic anti-inflammatory and painkillers; secondly, it is also the most easily neglected is anti-osteoporosis treatment. Some people may say that the fracture is effective to take this medicine now? But need to know, anti-osteoporosis now do not eat do not happen again fracture to eat again? It is because of the usual concept of anti-osteoporosis, which will lead to this fracture, the dead sheep do not quickly mend? Moreover, anti-osteoporosis treatment should continue, not that this fracture is cured, so you can not eat. According to research, it takes an average of 4 or 2 years to reduce the chance of fracture by half. The second is surgical treatment. With improved instrumentation and technology, minimally invasive treatment is advocated for geriatric osteoporotic lumbar compression fractures, and the results of the treatment are quite good. How is minimally invasive? To put it simply, a chopstick is used to fill the compressed bone with bone cement through the skin to hold the fracture up and stick it, so as to fix the fracture and reduce the pain. The operation only requires local anesthesia and takes about one hour, except for the time for positioning and sterilization, the real operation time is about 30 minutes, the wound length is only 1cm, bleeding is not more than 2ml, and no stitches are needed. This is a popular practice nowadays. 3. How to choose conservative treatment and surgery Each patient’s situation is different and must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. If you choose conservative treatment, it means you need to be bedridden until the fracture heals, that is, 6-8 weeks in bed, and it is best to be in bed during this time, which requires a lot of manpower to take care of the patient, and this conservative treatment, the compressed and flattened bones will not return to their original height, and if they do not return to their original height, they will become hunchbacked, and the force on the spine will change, leaving recurrent and stubborn back pain. The back pain will be high. Moreover, many patients are not properly cared for in bed for a long time and are prone to complications such as lung infections, urinary tract infections and hip rot, especially those with low resistance and thinness. The advantage of conservative treatment is that it eliminates the cost of surgery and does not require hospitalization, which is more suitable for patients who have sufficient manpower at home, have considerable nursing experience, have relatively minor fractures, and whose physical condition does not allow surgery; if surgery is chosen, the advantage is that the patient can wear a waist brace and move slowly on the ground the day after surgery, which makes recovery very fast and nursing is less troublesome (more suitable for today’s elderly society with many only children. The disadvantage is the high cost (much better if you have health insurance) and the need to be hospitalized for 3-4 days, of course, after the surgery, you are not allowed to jump around, after all, just fractured, you still need more bed rest. Whether you choose conservative or surgery, anti-osteoporosis treatment must continue, osteoporosis is the culprit of the fracture. 4.Summary To sum up, if an elderly person falls and has back pain, he or she may have a lumbar spine osteoporotic compression fracture. It is recommended to seek medical attention as soon as possible, choose the best treatment plan according to the situation, take more bed rest and adhere to anti-osteoporosis treatment.