[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/bone-density-and-bone-drugs\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/bone-density-and-bone-drugs\/","headline":"Bone density measurements were never meant to be treatment guidelines","name":"Bone density measurements were never meant to be treatment guidelines","description":"Print PDF eBook Facebook Twitter Gmail LinkedIn Pinterest For years we have known that bone density does not itself predict fracture, yet how many men and women have been told, and continue to be told, that they should take osteoporosis drugs based on their bone density? So I was delighted to hear noted osteoporosis researcher […]","datePublished":"2020-02-12","dateModified":"2026-04-22","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/author\/brownbetterbonesgmail-com\/#Person","name":"Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/author\/brownbetterbonesgmail-com\/","identifier":72,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e08d87bd45250c6616e1752933a6576aba077f335d97ee337a0cde5e435cbd3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e08d87bd45250c6616e1752933a6576aba077f335d97ee337a0cde5e435cbd3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Center for Better Bones","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Better-Bones-AMP.png","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Better-Bones-AMP.png","width":150,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/bone-density-measurement-BB-Blog-2-20.jpg","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/bone-density-measurement-BB-Blog-2-20.jpg","height":1109,"width":2120},"url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/bone-density-and-bone-drugs\/","video":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"VideoObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nRGIiTKyy7k#VideoObject","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nRGIiTKyy7k","name":"Should you worry about slight changes in bone density?","description":"Dr. Brown interviews one of her male clients, Ken, at the Love Your Bones Love Your Life Retreat. Ken had a unique experience with having his bone density tested several times. \n\u2192 Want to learn everything you need to manage & reverse your osteoporosis\/osteopenia naturally in one inspiring weekend with Dr. Brown? Join our bone health retreat & workshop! Learn more here: https:\/\/shop.betterbones.com\/pages\/love-your-bones-love-your-life-virtual-retreat\n\n\u2192 If you are interested in working with Dr. Brown to develop a personalized natural bone health program, read more about consultations here: https:\/\/www.betterbones.com\/consultations\/help-osteoporosis-osteopenia-fracture-healing-bone-health-concerns\/\n\n\u2192 Would you like your questions answered by Dr. Brown?  Comment below and she may address them in a future video!\n\nCheck out our website! \u2192 http:\/\/ www.betterbones.com\n\nWant to connect with Better Bones on social media?\nLike on Facebook \u2192 http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/betterbonesbetterbody\n\u200bFollow on Twitter \u2192 http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/drsusanbrown\n\u200bFollow our Instagram \u2192 http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/betterbonesbetterbody\n\u200bCheck out our Pinterest \u2192 http:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/betterbonesbetterbody\n\n#osteoporosis #osteopenia #bonemass #bonehealth #weightandbonemass #womenshealth #drsusanbrown #betterbonesbetterbody #preventosteoporosis\n\nTranslation:\nhi everyone dr. Susan Brown director of\nthe Center for better bones today were\nhere in Homestead Pennsylvania and our\nthird love your bones love your true\nlove your life love your bones retreat\nwith Ken welcome Ken glad to have you\nwith us glad to be here you know at the\nretreat I go over every client's case\nand I was very interested in Ken because\nhe had his low bone mass and the doctors\nhave been concerned about it\nhe's been looking at all the different\nthe doctors have been helping him study\nwhat could be the cause of this low bone\nmass but the most interesting thing was\nhis bone density test and that's why I\ntend to be here he had he had a bone\ndensity test let's see he had one in\nJanuary why did they give you the go\nahead City Tuscon well I had had a\nspinal fracture but five years prior but\nthere was never any follow-up until I\ntalked good stuff so you met like you\nsaid a new doctor and he said gee you\nhad a fracture five years ago let's see\nwhat is going on with the bone density\nright so they measured his bone density\nand you know they measure the hip and\nthen they measure the spine and it was\nsort of interesting so they got a kind\nof a little reading and then what did\nthey do well we looked at the results\nand both my doctor and I were surprised\nthat yes exactly yes so we were both a\nlittle skeptical and we thought well\nmaybe we should just try it one more\ntime just in case there was a mistake\nmade so about ten days later we had\nanother test so ten days later they go\nto the same laboratory they have a\ndifferent different technician probably\nwas on duty but the same machine the\nsame laboratory and this test result\nshowed that in the hip\nit was 4% difference just in ten days\nnow the reason I'm bringing this up and\nthis it's very interesting the hip was\n4% lower in 10 days and the spine was 2%\nhigher in 10 days now you know you can't\nchange bone density that quick the point\nof the point of Ken's story to me is\nwe always take the bone density test\nwith a grain of salt that they're not\nreally precise if you remember my\ndiscussion of Susan Atwood put a hundred\npeople on her machine a big researcher\nfamous researcher with well calibrated\nmachines she put those hundred people\nout our machines walked around the room\nand said you need a five or six percent\nchange to be sure it's not placement on\nthe machine now your doctor never told\nyou that when you got the bone density\ntest but ken is a living example the ten\ndays you can see a really significant\ndifference so the gist of it is should\nchemists had stuff to work out he's\ngonna try to figure out why does bone\ndensity might be low I'll give you a tip\nwe know partly because the cannon is a\nvery small man he's like wait he's small\nbones one of my other clients was a\nsmall man he went he came to me and I\nsaid look I don't see anything wrong and\nhe went to many doctors and he finally\nfound a doctor that compared his bone\ndensity ran the bone density like if he\nwere a woman against the woman standard\nwhich are small bone standards and he\nturned out to have normal bone so we\nknow that that's not every case we know\nyou had a fracture so we got to work\nreally hard to find out what if what the\nweakness cause might be but we do know\nfrom Ken's case that take the bone\ndensity with a grain of salt a 4% change\nmight not necessarily be significant and\nit made B and D just how you were placed\non that machine great and as we're\nclosing Ken tell me how did you what did\nyou find useful I retreat here in\nPennsylvania\nwell I thought every day was it was\namazing oh well the staff material the\nvenue exceeded my expectations you know\nand I really appreciate","thumbnailUrl":["https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/nRGIiTKyy7k\/default.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/nRGIiTKyy7k\/mqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/nRGIiTKyy7k\/hqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/nRGIiTKyy7k\/sddefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/nRGIiTKyy7k\/maxresdefault.jpg"],"uploadDate":"2019-05-21T14:14:29+00:00","duration":"PT4M35S","embedUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nRGIiTKyy7k","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCm6Zry9uGdrZpm05sQLIxMw#Organization","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCm6Zry9uGdrZpm05sQLIxMw","name":"Dr. Susan E. Brown","description":"Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD, is a medical anthropologist, a New York State Certified Nutritionist, and the author of Better Bones, Better Body -- the first comprehensive look at natural bone health. Dr. Brown specializes in osteoporosis, osteopenia, bone health regeneration, and auto-immune disease. She is also famous for her natural approach to bone health; check out her Better Bones programs and products.","logo":{"url":"https:\/\/yt3.ggpht.com\/ytc\/AIdro_m0l08uY9k8RO1FbN8-VsYIOa8fiq9BtocNNM_k3xw7a7s=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj","width":800,"height":800,"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nRGIiTKyy7k#VideoObject_publisher_logo_ImageObject"}},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nRGIiTKyy7k#VideoObject_potentialAction","target":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nRGIiTKyy7k&t={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"},"interactionStatistic":[[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nRGIiTKyy7k#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_WatchAction","interactionType":{"@type":"WatchAction"},"userInteractionCount":1270}],{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nRGIiTKyy7k#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_LikeAction","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}]},"about":["Bone Drugs"],"wordCount":514,"keywords":["bone density"],"articleBody":" Print PDF eBook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwitter\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGmail\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPinterest\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor years we have known that bone density does not itself predict fracture, yet how many men and women have been told, and continue to be told, that they should take osteoporosis drugs based on their bone density? So I was delighted to hear noted osteoporosis researcher Dr. Steven Cummings declare that bone density testing was never intended to serve as a guide to treatment. He made this statement on September 11, 2009 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Bone Mineral Research in Denver.As Dr. Cummings detailed, the T score definitions of osteoporosis (defined as -2.5 T or more) and osteopenia (defined as -1 T or more) were developed by World Health Organization Committee in the face of expanding bone mineral density testing. Researchers felt the need to define what was \u201cnormal\u201d bone density, so they developed the \u201cT scores\u201d rating system distinguish how similar one\u2019s bone density was to that of a young person of the same sex. These definitions were supposed to be guidelines for establishing normal ranges, not signals of a need for treatment with bone drugs.Dr. Cummings went on to suggest, as I have suggested before, that treatment guidelines should be based on an individual evaluation of multiple risk factors\u00a0as is offered in the WHO’s FRAX tool, or better yet, in a more comprehensive fracture risk assessment\u00a0like the one available on this site.He also reminded his colleagues that another valuable way to assess risk of future fracture is by detection of previous fractures. While you well know if you have had a hip or wrist fracture, you may not know if you have a deformity, or fracture, of a vertebral body in the spine. An important new tool for detection of vertebral fractures is the \u201cVertebral Fracture Assessment” also known as a \u201cVertebral Deformity Assessment.\u201d These tests, using either a spinal x-ray or a special picture from the bone density test can reveal of you have \u201chidden\u201d vertebral fractures. If no deformities are found, no treatment is needed, but if such hidden fractures are found, taking action to strengthen bone is necessary. Existing fracture\u00a0is the ultimate proof of bone weakness, and having such a fracture puts you at higher risk for further fractures.Here at the Center for Better Bones, we try to give clients a realistic understanding of their fracture risk so that they know whether they need to take steps to improve their bone health. And we have a complete program that we tailor to their individual needs to help them do exactly that, without resorting to expensive bone drugs with unpleasant and unhealthy side effects. You can learn more about our ideas regarding natural bone health by reading the articles on betterbones.com. Reference:Cumming, Steven, \u201cIdentifying People Who Should be Treated to Reduce Fractures\u201d. Presented at the \u201cOsteoporosis: Focus on Fracture Prevention\u201d Symposium, ASBMR Annual Meeting, Denver, 9-11-09. For natural support alongside any treatment, read our complete guide to bone health nutrition as a natural foundation."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Bone Drugs","item":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bone density measurements were never meant to be treatment guidelines","item":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/bone-drugs\/bone-density-and-bone-drugs\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]