Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Dexa Scan reading question

OK I got my dexa scan results and Doc was very happy. My question Is (LOL I forgot to ask him) on reading this thing.

Dual Femur Total Left and Dual Femur total Right are left and right hip measurements I think? Correct?

What do Dual Femur Neck Left and Dual femur neck right refer to? left and right side of Neck?

I get the AP spine Measurement.

Any help on the Dual Femur Neck question?


Over two years
I gained 7% of BMD in Neck right, 3.6% in Neck Left
I gained 18% in Spine (doc is dubious of this reading but agrees there was significant gains)
And I gained bone mass in Femur Left of 4.5% and Femur right of 5.8%

My spine now at -2.2
Femur Neck left and Femur Neck right now at -2.8 and -3.2
Femur left and Femur right now at -2.6 and -2.7

Only the -3.2 is bugging me but I showed good gains there so am on the right track. Getting close to being back in osteopia for everything except for the Femur neck left. If I gain like this over the next two years like I did the last two I will be back to Osteopia everywhere.

Doc was amazed i did this with no drugs aimed at Osteoporosis and no Strontium either. Very happy today but work still remains. I have one back compressional fracture but I remember doing that Skiing about 10 years ago lol.

Drizzit - Congrats, terrif. Thought yu were on Strontium Citrate! So, if no meds of any sort for the osteo, how did you accomplish better bone mass? Divulge...all agog!

I did Strontium for a month or so then dropped it. I didn't want to take it for life anyway and I wanted fewer variables to not confuse what was working for me. I do not like how strontium can effect the bone scan results. If I had gotten bad results I would have reconsidered Strontium again.

I credit Weight lifting, Simponi the TNF drug, and Testosterone for my gain.
It is not unusual to see gains on AS patients on a TNF drug. Doc said mine were much larger than he usually sees but there is solid evidence the TNF drugs increase bone mass. My testosterone was borderline low so we believe that is also helping with the gains but there is very little research to back that up. Osteo is men gets little attention so there are many questions as to the role of testosterone.

I found this Femoral Neck Picture online. I didn't know I had more than one neck in my body. Thanks! Now I'm going to wonder all night... how many toes do I have...

Chuckle Erica. My wife just pointed out how silly my neck thought was LOL

Thanks that pic really clears it up

Congrats on the gains! What is your weight workout like? My PT cautioned me about weight lifting. He thought it would wear my joints out faster but I wonder. Are you lifting heavy weight? How often? Are you using testosterone cream? I gotta think testosterone has a positive effect on bones. I have read that hypogonadal men have issues with osteoporosis and kyphosis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10372695

Here is a clinical trial to watch:

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00182871

I think the dual femur left and right are the femurs ('necks' for femoral necks, between trochanter and ball of hip joint). Maybe they are measuring those because of the outcome of those studies showing the increased risk of femur fractures from bisphosphonates?

"Dual" because of the Dual Xray Absorptiometry? (DeXA)

Nice to have improvement, though! I'm hoping aTNF does good for osteoporosis, too. I probably shouldn't take testosterone...lol.

i was told that the reason they measure the neck is because its the thinnest point, most likely to break if osteoporosis.

good to hear that these things can be reversed! great news.

good to hear that TNF inhibitors are believed to have a role in bone health!

Hey farinelli

I do not lift for bulk or use heavy weights. I lift for flexibility. A lot of repititions with 30 - 50 pound weights.


I also do core strength training on a ball and use a ski macchine for arobic conditioning. I jog in the non-winter months but only a couple of miles 3 times a week.