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HOW TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT FOR A BONE DENSITY TEST:
Talk to your primary care, gynecologist, or other healthcare provider about your concerns for osteoporosis and whether a bone density test is in order. Everyone's risks for osteoporosis vary due to multiple factors.
The primary risk factors vary for each individual but there are key factors which everyone should should understand will increase their chances for low bone mass (osteopenia) or osteoporosis.
For women; they are:
- age and race (caucasians and asians are at the highest risk vs. african americans and hispanics)
- hormonal status, (menopause with or without hormone replacement),
- family history (has either of your parents or siblings, as adults, had a significant fracture such at the hip, or the spine)
- use of certain medications (eg; prednisone, corticosteroids, anti-seizure drugs, thyroid hormone use, etc.),
- loss of more than 1 inch from your maximal adult height,
- history of fragility fractures as an adult,
- a sedentary life style
- history of smoking or alcohol abuse
and
- a diet lacking adequate calcium and vitamin D.
What are your Risk Factors?
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ALL APPOINTMENTS CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES:
1. A brief written description of your current health history and indepth discussion of its contents.
2. Bone density (DXA) measurements to assess overall bone health status. These low energy Xray tests will be used to measure the bone mineral density (BMD) of both hips, the lumbar spine (both AP and lateral views) and the non-dominant forearm, if needed. In most cases, to determine the structure and shape status of the spine (lumbar and thoracic) a vertebral assessment (IVA) will also be performed.
These DXA tests usually require 20 to 30 minutes for completion.
More about DXA!
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Bone Densitometry is low energy x-ray method which is a direct measurement of the amount of bone mass in a given site within your skeleton: the most critical sites that are usually examined are the femur (the hip joint where the femur and pelvis are joined) and the lumbar (lower) spine. In some instances, the forearm and/or total body is also measured.
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In addition to determining your bone mineral density (BMD), which is the hallmark of your bone health. We can also examine the structural status of your vertebral column (the thoracic and lumbar regions). This analysis is acccomplished with a state-of-the-art technique called Instant Vertebral Assessment (IVA). This low energy x-ray, 10 second scan technique is incorporated into your exam whenever your referring MD requests it. It requires no re-positioning and is a part of the AP (frontal view) and lateral (side view). This assessment is critical for determining the structural status of each vertebra and for future comparisons of change.
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