Osteoporosis is a disease that consists of the loss of minerals and with it the density of the bone in the spine that little by little removes that hardness from the body of the vertebra and predisposes it to a fracture. When the elderly patient falls out of tune on his back, he often has very intense pain at any point of his spine and towards the upper or lower back, and it is a very intense pain that can be marked when changing position, either from lying to sitting from sitting to lying down or when standing up. it is common that when an x-ray is taken it is overlooked since sometimes frank changes are not seen on the x-ray, but when the symptoms are sufficiently suspicious, an MRI is requested and in this, inflammation can be found within the vertebra which that confirms the diagnosis and gives us treatment options.
Depending on the intensity of the pain and the limitation that the patient has when they have a vertebral fracture, it can be managed with pain medications, treat osteoporosis and use a vest that allows some movement to facilitate the consolidation of the fracture of the vertebra. conservative way. however, when the pain is very intense despite the medications or when the vertebra has been significantly crushed, the conservative management option is not viable since it would leave us with a deformity of the spine and with it sequelae (chronic pain and imbalance of the spine). Seeing the characteristics of the fracture, there are different surgical treatment options, one of which is minimally invasive, introducing 2 sleeves into the body of the vertebra and filling the defects within the vertebra with cement, which allows us to facilitate the weight bearing of the vertebra without such intense pain and allows the patient with much less medication to control pain and encourage the vertebra to heal in a better position. In cases where the vertebra is severely crushed, vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty cannot be performed and will require spinal instrumentation.
That's why it's important to diagnose osteoporosis before the fracture happens. Medications can be given and with some exercises at home to improve bone density and strengthen muscles to prevent falls.