Bone Health

Bone Health

We consider bone health a relatively new “field” in medicine. At one time, they thought bones were static lumps of calcium – now we know they are living and dynamic structures that require care, like all other parts of our body.

To keep the bones in the body — the musculoskeletal system — healthy, there must be a balance between adequate nutrition and activity. Often, at least one (if not both) of these aspects is lacking in our daily lives, and our bones suffer because of it.

When our bones suffer, we also suffer. Hip fractures, wrist fractures, shoulder fractures and spine-compression fractures are the most common breaks that occur as we get older. We often refer these fractures to as “insufficiency” fractures because they occur because of the bone's insufficient amount of calcium to withstand a fall.

What is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is the condition of the bone that has lost its density because of a lack of calcium and other nutrients that are important for bone health. Osteoporosis is not reversible–once they have diagnosed you with osteoporosis, you will always have bone density below what is normal.

The goal of osteoporosis treatment is preventative–we want to prevent further loss of bone and keep the other parts of the musculoskeletal system strong to prevent falls and injuries.

Our practice has focused intently on this significant issue. Discussions about bone health have become a normal part of our treatments, as we've started recommending various steps patients can take to determine or monitor bone density and available osteoporosis treatment methods.

Bone Matrix

One of our favorite movies is “The Matrix.” It is a science fiction movie that is based on the premise that we are all living our daily lives unaware that we are actually trapped in a virtual reality world – “The Matrix,” and only a few individuals who had gained knowledge and became aware of this situation, were fighting against the subversive forces to make everyone aware of the reality that they were in and to defeat those forces with the weapon of knowledge.

In the movie, to become “aware” an individual needed to make a choice between two pills – a red pill and a blue pill. One pill allowed the individual to return to the “Matrix” and remain unaware of the facts of the world that affected them; the other pill would “awaken” them to the reality of what was really happening and allow them to gain the knowledge needed to take on the challenges that faced them.

By naming our bone health program The Bone Matrix we were not only name-playing on the fact that a healthy bone has to have a healthy bone matrix, but we were also following the theme of the movie. We are physicians (orthopedic surgeons) who for many years have fixed broken bones, many of them fragility fractures. When we became aware of the lack of knowledge that our patients had concerning their bone health therefore, putting themselves at risk of fracturing at some point in their lives, we now are focusing our practices on Bone Health and keeping our patients from fracturing in the first place.

Although The Bone Matrix may not sound as exciting as the movie “The Matrix,” we feel that what we are doing is just as exciting and important. As in the movie, we have taken upon ourselves the responsibility of educating our patients and our community about the importance of Bone Health. We want everyone to know that bone health should not be ignored and taken for granted, because at some point the reality of the decision to ignore bone health and keep on living daily lives status quo and without taking action will very likely result in a life altering event – a fragility fracture due to osteoporosis and poor bone quality. We have made it our goal to make everyone aware and spread the knowledge to maintain high quality bone health!

The Bone Matrix – THE TEAM:

Dr. Andy Bush is a Board-Certified Orthopedic Surgeon currently practicing in a solo general orthopedic practice – Central Carolina Orthopedic Associates.

James Hooker, RT and Clinical Manager, Trained in EchoS and REMS Testing – Central Carolina Orthopedic Associates

Cindy McAuley, Bone Health Coordinator and Social Media Administrator – Central Carolina Orthopedic Associates

In consultation with Dr. Kim Zambito, Board-Certified and Fellowship-trained Orthopedic Hand Surgeon.

The Bone Matrix – THE MISSION:

The mission of The Bone Matrix is to reduce the number of fragility fractures. We plan to take on this mission by direct patient assessment with the goal of bone health treatment planning as well as community bone health education, based on established standards of medical care and academically accepted knowledge with the goal of reducing the risk of a member of the community sustaining a fragility fracture.

Our goal is to reduce fracture risk and ultimately Fracture Prevention!

Here is the link to our REMS Echolight Discussion Group page:

Bone Strength Testing

Bone strength testing at Central Carolina Orthopaedic Associates with the Echolight Innovative Bone Health Assessment helps us establish a correct diagnosis of osteoporosis and can help prevent the emergence of an initial fracture.

The test also helps us determine the severity of the disease, predicts the risk of subsequent fractures, and monitors bone changes. Early diagnosis and a relative prescription of treatments can prevent osteoporisis. Learn more about our Echolight technology. 

Schedule Your Echolight Ultrasound Bone Density Screening Today!

Bone Health Visit Fee Details:

Echolight/REMS ultrasound: $75.00 (insurance not filed/patient will pay at time of procedure)

Initial Visit (Telemed/Video or In-office): Up-front payment dependent upon Insurance co-pay and co-insurance (varies by plan)

Follow-up Visits (Telemed/Video or In-office): Up-front payment dependent upon Insurance co-pay and co-insurance (varies by plan)

CCOA staff are happy to check insurance benefits on behalf of the patient and will quote up-front payment amounts due for office visits after contacting insurance.

Review of outside medical records:

Dr. Bush requests all prior medical records related to bone health to help determine appropriate medical course of action. There can be 2-3 outside record reviews associated with the bone health program for each patient. The patient may be responsible for charges up to $100 per review for the time spent reviewing outside records.

Own the Bone® Program

The American Orthopaedic Association has selected Central Carolina Orthopaedic Associates to take part in the Own the Bone® quality improvement (QI) program. The year-long program began October 20, 2021 on World Osteoporosis Day and is focused on raising awareness of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease.

This new tool will help CCOA ensure fragility fracture patients are identified and receive evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment. Learn more about osteoporosis.