Did you know that bones are made of 50% water and 50% solid mass? Also, it takes about 12 weeks for a broken bone to heal. Osteoporosis is an illness that weakens bones and makes them easy to break. The good news is that tests and treatments are easy, and the results are often positive. A bone density test using a bone density scanner will tell if you have osteoporosis. Here, you will find out what a bone density scanner does.

What Is A Bone Density Scanner?

A bone density scanner is a machine that compares your bone density with what is expected of a young, healthy adult. Your age, gender, and ethnicity are also considered as bone density differs along those lines. Then, a standard deviation score is calculated between your bone density and the expected value.

A bone density scan takes 20 minutes. However, the scanner has an arm that stretches across the scanning couch. That way, you are not enclosed in a small space.

What Do X-Rays Do?

An x-ray machine is like a camera allowing doctors to see what goes on inside a patient without opening them up. Today, X-Ray machines direct the rays to the specific part of the body being examined. When X-Rays contact the body, they reflect the information in image form on a metal film. The beam passes soft tissue like skin and organs as they cannot absorb the high-energy rays. However, bones are dense, and they absorb the radiation.

The X-Ray film shows the areas exposed to the X-Rays like a camera film. Black areas in the film show the soft tissue where the rays passed through. And the white areas show the denser tissues like bones that absorbed the X-Rays.

Today, there are different X-Ray machines such as portable X-Ray machines, bone density scanners for sale, fixed X-Ray machines, dental X-Ray machines, and mobile X-Ray machines. Even so, they all do the same job: to show what the inside of a patient's body looks like. For example, a bone density scanner uses X-Rays to determine how dense a patient's bones are.

Bone Density Test

Denser bones are stronger bones. Therefore, you want to see dense bones in a bone density scan as they are less likely to break. A bone density scan uses X-Rays to determine the amount of calcium and other minerals in bones. The more the mineral content, the denser and stronger the bones. These scans are generally tested in the hip, spine, and sometimes the forearm.

A bone density test is necessary if a patient comes in with a loss of height, fractured bone, and a drop in hormone levels. Loss of about 4 centimeters in height could point to compression fractures in the spine. That would be a sign of osteoporosis. A drop in hormone levels is normal in menopause, but it might also signify bone density problems.

Finally, bone density scanners are important to the medical practice. They help in the diagnosis of weakened bones before they break. When done early, you can take measures to prevent bone fractures that would take too long to heal.