How dense are your bones? Find out at Motse’s Bone Vitality Centre

How well do you know your own body?

You can grab a tape measure or step onto a scale, but weight and body mass index measurement still do not really tell you what’s going on ‘on the inside’.

Motse’s Bone Vitality Centre in Richards Bay offers you a new technology called Duel-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA), which accurately measures the whole body – its bones, muscular tissue and fat.

This low radiation exam can measure bone mineral density to determine the quality and density of the bones.

It also determines total body composition, measuring regional body fat, the relative skeletal muscle index, as well as resting metabolic rate.

What does all of this mean?

• For those on weight loss programmes, DXA scans are great motivators, indicating where a person is losing body fat and gaining muscles.
• Using DXA scans, athletes can monitor the effects of training and nutrition on their body composition.
• DXA scans measure visceral fat (harmful fat stored around the internal organs) and can aid in the management of cardio-metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.
• It can aid with clinical condition assessment for doctors to understand cardio metabolic health risks such as heart attacks.
• It is a great tool to assess the overall health and relative skeletal muscle index among elderly patients.

According to Motse’s Bone Vitality Centre owner Motselisi Mosiana, most medical aids cover bone mineral density scans.

‘However, body composition is not yet covered by medical aids.’

You can contact Motse’s Bone Vitality Centre directly, or obtain a doctor’s referral for diagnosis or treatment management purposes.

‘In cases where patients are starting medication that will affect their bones, or are on treatment for bone strength, the doctor might want to check the progress of treatment,’ Motselisi explains.

Patients may contact Motse’s Bone Vitality Centre directly, without a doctor’s referral, for screening and wellness purposes, she adds.

Motselisi recommends DXA for anyone with strong risk factors for bone disorders, such as family history of hip fractures or if you fracture easily or experienced a broken bone at low impact.

‘We also do body composition scans, which are vital at the onset of a weight management programme – whether to gain or to lose weight, or for any fitness progress monitoring,’ Motselisi says.

‘A body composition scan can be used by doctors to help diagnose and manage certain health risks related to obesity, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and also to manage other chronic disease such as kidney failure, as this affect the patient’s lean muscle.’

Motse’s Bone Vitality Centre is situated at the Lakeside Mall, Richards Bay. Contact them on 035 7891477 or 083 4507861.

Read more about the importance of bone health at https://www.citizen.co.za/zululand-observer/130916/new-resource-for-good-health/