In autumn, the season when many people leave for excursions, many people get injured while doing outdoor sports. Especially when the temperature is chilly, even if you fall lightly, your muscles are in a hardened state, so it can lead to serious injuries.
If you are suffering from osteoporosis or older people with weak bones, you should be careful regarding fractures, because even a small impact makes bones easy to break and it takes a long time to reattach.
When a vertebral compression fracture occurs, the vertebra is fractured and deformed as if it were flattened. In the case of low bone density, it can occur even with a small impact such as carrying a load or coughing.
Since vertebral compression fractures change the shape of the vertebrae, recovery is slower than simple fractures, and it is important to respond quickly in the early stages as it affects the surrounding nerves. Among middle-aged and elderly women, bone density decreases rapidly following menopause, so be careful.
A vertebral compression fracture usually takes three months to recover, and during that time, it is difficult to move, so other muscles of the body can also be weakened. It is also more dangerous for middle-aged and elderly people because a broken spine can press on nerves and cause loss of leg sensation or strength.
In order to prevent vertebral compression fractures, it is most important to manage bone density on a daily basis, and exposure to the sun for a certain time during the day and intake of vitamin D and calcium can help. If you exercise your back muscles on a regular basis, you can strengthen the spine by stimulating the bones.
Even if you pay attention to prevention, if you have a vertebral compression fracture following trauma, it can cause sudden back pain, and the pain gets worse when you stand up from lying down or when you walk.
If treated at an early stage, symptoms can be improved by wearing braces and treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs. However, if the symptoms persist even following controlling the pain for more than 2 weeks, surgical treatment should be considered. The procedure is ‘vertebral angioplasty’, and it is a method of injecting medical bone cement into the fractured spine to support the vertebrae so that they are stable.
(Written by: Shin Sung-chan, Director, Spine Surgery, Chamtonton Hospital)
