Reverse Your Osteopenia

An exciting new development for predicting hip fracture was reported yesterday on WebMD. Until now, The National Osteoporosis Foundation has recommended that all women over 65 and all men over 70 should have bone density x-ray testing to access their risk of bone fracture. The same test is recommended for younger women to identify osteopenia (the less sever bone loss problem). But according to researcher Idris Guessous, MD, in many areas, the lack of access to testing plus the high cost kept many from getting it done.

Not even mentioning the problem that many are having far too much exposure to x-rays these days. So it is exciting to learn heel ultrasound could be an alternative to X-ray bone density testing.

With an increasingly elderly population the incidence of hip fracture related to osteoporosis is predicted to quadruple by the year 2050, out-pacing the economic resources for treatment.

In an attempt to find better methods for identifying people that are at risk, “Dr. Guessous and colleagues from Switzerland’s Lausanne University Hospital developed an ultrasound exam of the heel with evaluation of established risk factors for osteoporosis and a simple, office-based test to determine a patient’s risk for falling”. The test uses sound waves (QUS) rather than radiation to measure bone density at the heel. They also tested participants in a study of over 6,000 women by asking them to rise from a chair three times in quick succession without using their arms for balance.

I am amazed that so little is done to encourage an eating plan that would produce stronger bones. My goal is prevention of ostopenia and osteoporosis.