← Return to Osteoporosis: What tests confirm diagnosis and treatment options?

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@ckramer57

Hi! I would highly recommend looking into Dr. Susan Brown's Better Bones, Better Body Program. This is an online or sometimes in-person program in which you learn how to build bone strength naturally. I took the course ($350) and was able to improve my lumbar spine bone density t-score from -2.5 to -1.9 in 11 months of working the program. It's been worth every penny. As follow-up to the course, Dr. Brown and her staff offer ongoing support and guidance for all aspects of improving your bone health: diet, exercise, nutritional supplementation, stress reduction, etc.
The most advanced osteoporosis/bone quality testing out there that I know of is: newer DEXA scans which are used in combination with TBS (Trabecular Bone Score) technology and the Echolight REMS ultrasound technology. DEXA plus TBS is just beginning to show up in clinics in the US. Echolight REMS is primarily in Europe, but there is one clinic in North Carolina that offers Echolight scans (Central Carolina Orthopaedic Associates, CCOA). These two new ways of assessing Osteoporosis are game changers for those of us with bone health issues! The reason for this is that our DEXA scan scores are NOT reliable predictors of fracture risk. Fracture risk can only be determined by looking at both bone density and bone strength. The equation is: bone density + bone strength = bone quality. I know this, because I fractured my knee so badly as a result of a really low impact trauma accident, and yet I needed a total knee replacement. The radiologist told me I HAD to do something about my bones. All this and I only have osteopenia!

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Replies to "Hi! I would highly recommend looking into Dr. Susan Brown's Better Bones, Better Body Program. This..."

You wrote that you were “able to improve my lumbar spine bone density t-score from -2.5 to -1.9 in 11 months of working the program”. That’s super-impressive.

I haven’t signed up for Dr. Brown’s program but I frequent her website, am always telling others to check out her site, especially the testing to rule out secondary causes of osteoporosis, and I have read one of her books.

My lumbar spine t-score was -3.9 in July 2019 and in December 2022 was -3.6. I don’t have any fragility fractures and I have had a TBS done.

Unfortunately, I didn’t learn about Dr. Brown before my endocrinologist pushed me toward meds. I’m off of them for now and for the last 1.25 yrs have been hitting the gym and slowing increasing the weights. I’ve tried to incorporate some of the exercises Cindi did (Cindi’s story on Dr. Brown’s website).

If you don’t mind sharing, did you do anything beyond just following Dr. Brown’s plan. I’m assuming you didn’t take any osteoporosis meds but did you/do you do HRT (hormone replacement therapy)?