Description

The less dense the bones are, the more likely you are to have thinning of the bones (osteoporosis) and therefore are more liable to suffer from fractures as the bones are weaker.

The procedure involves lying on a table while the scan is done on various parts of the body, usually at the spine, wrist and hip to determine bone density at various parts of the body.

The scanner does use electro-magnetic radiation to produce the images but the radiation exposure is very small, much less than for example, normal x-rays.