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← Return to bone pain four months after Reclast Infusion
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bone pain four months after Reclast Infusion
Osteoporosis & Bone Health | Last Active: May 12 12:12pm | Replies (93)Comment receiving replies
@jozer look for a REMS Echolight center in your area for an Ultrasound bone density. No radiation, self pay usually around $175, and you can have it as often as you want as it is ultrasound and no radiation. A great tool to see how you are doing in between DEXA scans. The technology is available at OsteoStrong Centers and more doctor offices are offering this. Just Google Echolight REMS technology available in your area. They are popping up in a lot of places as the popularity swells for this effective bone density test.
Replies to "@jozer look for a REMS Echolight center in your area for an Ultrasound bone density. No..."
@humphreysbr My husband and I both had REMS done in January. But after the most recent research in 2025 and 2026, and my own situation, I no longer trust the results.
Here is the paper from this year.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00198-026-07960-4
EXCERPT: "Conclusions
REMS-BMD and fragility scores are strongly influenced by demographic inputs, particularly age and weight. The REMS output therefore reflects an assessment of BMD and fracture risk strongly based on demographic parameters, rather than an ultrasound-based direct skeletal measurement. "
Here is a discussion of REMS, including discussing the 2026 paper from MelioGuide:
https://melioguide.com/osteoporosis-prevention/rems-bone-scan/
EXCERPT: "The Bobelyak et al. Study (2025)
An earlier study by Bobelyak and colleagues found similar concerns. Their model using only age, sex, and BMI accounted for approximately 90% of the variability in femoral neck REMS-BMD. Perhaps most provocatively, they reported that REMS showed only minimal change in hip BMD values after a patient had a metallic hip prosthesis inserted, a scenario in which any device truly measuring bone should show a dramatic change."
I am in the unusual position of having both of my hips tested with REMS, which was the key reason I got the scan. I was very surprised that my hip with the osteoarthritic knee that I have been favoring for over a decade had the same REMS T-score as my healthy knee. My good knee has been taking the brunt of higher loads and more impact for over a decade. Other studies show that this imbalance should give someone's healthy knee better BMD than a load-reduced non-healthy knee. These 2 studies explain the apparently-bogus REMS T-score measurements on my should-be-different hips.
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@humphreysbr Thanks for your comment...DEXA is not the only thing out there (although the so-called gold standard for diagnosing osteoporosis); TBS and Echolight/REMS (along with bone markers) are also becoming more important pieces of information to have since bone health and its treatment appears to be a vague and somewhat new field. I am having a heck of a time trying to get a DEXA after one year of Reclast; they allow every other year and even with private pay I can't get an answer on pricing - I've been quoted $1200 to $500 at the place I went last year, depending on who I talk to! And I can't have a DEXA at all without a referral, which my doctor did do but only for the center I went to last year. Another hospital system offers DEXA with TBS but not my doctors' system; thus, I can't go there without referral even with private pay.