The DEXA Scan is a test that can provide patients with concrete details about different aspects of their health. While it serves as a bone density test, it also measures body composition, including body fat percentage and total muscle mass. At Meliora Integrative Medicine in Evanston, IL, we offer this scan to help patients optimize their health and wellness and take proactive and preventative steps to improve their health and quality of life.
DEXA Scan
DEXA is an acronym for dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. The scanning device uses advanced technology to perform full-body scans through a quick and painless treatment process. During your scan, the device will create a map of your body to measure three critical health markers: bone density, body fat percentage, and muscle mass.
All you have to do is lie down in a comfortable position inside the scanning part of the device. The treatment takes five minutes to scan your body to obtain your health measurements. You’ll get results as soon as your treatment is over and will learn more about the three critical health markers and your overall body composition.
Bone Density
The aging process, hormone deficiencies, inactivity, and a low calcium diet can all contribute to port bone density. The DEXA Scan can measure bone density, which is the amount of bone mineral in your bones, to determine the health of your bones and whether you are at risk of early osteoporosis.
Poor bone density can make you more likely to experience fractures and breaks, as well as osteoporosis. Learning more about your bone density can help you take control of your health and take steps to improve it with lifestyle, hormone therapy, diet, and exercise.
Body Fat
Body fat is the common term for adipose tissue. There are two primary types of body fat: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat that surrounds the organs and, in excessive amounts, can be dangerous. Subcutaneous fat is the fat you can feel below your skin’s surface.
Learning more about your body fat percentage can help you on a weight loss and weight management plan so that you can not just achieve a healthy weight but a healthy or ideal body fat percentage. The scan can also give you more information about the total amount of visceral fat in your body so that you can take steps to reduce it.
Muscle Mass
Muscle mass is another aspect of body composition, and we can use this device to determine your muscle mass, which is the total amount of muscle in your body. Exercise, strength training, and a healthy lifestyle can increase lean muscle mass, which, when combined with a decrease in body fat, can help you reach your physique goals.
Your Results
The results of your DEXA Scan will tell you more than just the basics about bone density, body fat, and muscle mass. We can use your results to optimize your health and take proactive and preventative steps to address and prevent certain symptoms. Once you undergo this testing process, we can use the results to understand your baseline better.
Then, we can develop a weight management or hormone therapy treatment plan based on your test results and primary health objectives. We can use your test results as a foundation to optimize your treatment plan down to the last detail.
Customizing Your Weight Management Plan
The right weight management plan shouldn’t just focus on weight loss, though that is an important aspect. Instead, it should focus on decreasing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass to promote body transformation.
We will perform an initial DEXA Scan to learn more about your body fat and muscle mass percentages, and as you lose weight, decrease body fat, and increase lean muscle mass, you can re-test to monitor your progress and see how far you’ve progressed and how far you need to go.
Customizing Your Hormone Therapy Plan
Some of the most common symptoms of a hormone imbalance or deficiency are poor bone density, a decrease in or inability to maintain lean muscle mass, and unexplained weight gain or the inability to lose weight.
The DEXA Scan and other testing processes, like blood tests, can give us a better understanding of how your hormones impact your body. Then we can customize your treatment plan with the right dose of hormones and retest with the DEXA Scan to monitor your progress and track positive changes in your bone density, muscle mass, and body fat.
Who Is a Candidate?
Anyone looking to optimize their health and wellness makes a good candidate for a DEXA Scan. The entire treatment process is quick and non-invasive but provides invaluable information about your overall health and wellness.
Patients who simply want a baseline about their health make good candidates, as do those who want to lose weight and improve their lifestyle. Additionally, bodybuilders, athletes, and fitness enthusiasts can all schedule a scan to optimize their training routines to improve performance and overall body composition.
Optimize Your Health
Whatever your current health, body composition, or fitness and wellness goals, a DEXA Scan can help you learn more about your body so you can optimize your lifestyle to make positive changes that are both proactive and preventative. We can give you more information about this treatment and schedule your scan so you can better understand your body and take steps to optimize your health.