body composition testing (digital) - my review

mike_littlerock

I wanted to share my experience with the group. I found a local center that offered body composition testing. I was already looking for someone to test me, my local gym offers this service, but then I discovered digital body composition testing (dexa -Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry). the test i had used a GE lunar prodigy system, and I was impressed with the report I was given after the test. it was not covered by insurance, but it was only a $50 fee ($25 for subsequent visits, min of 6 months between visits) and that is comparable to the fee charged by my gym for caliper based body fat measurement. I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone that wants to get an accurate view of their body composition and bone density. If you are in Arkansas, their web-page is http://www.radconlr.com/html/body_fat.html

Accuracy:
their stated accuracy is plus/minus .8%, compared to an average accuracy number quoted for body fat calipers of plus/minus 4% (with a trained technician)

test procedure.
I just had to put on scrubs (just the pants, was already wearing a tee-shirt). they measured my weight/height before the test, but then you just have to lie on the machine while it scans your body. you do have to keep still during the test, but its a very open machine and I think would not be a problem for a claustrophobic. (one arm above your body, not fully enclosed). The test itself only took a few minutes and about 5 minutes after it was done, I was walking out of the door with my 7 page report.

even though i was NOT happy with the body fat percentage, it is still better to have an accurate view of where I am today.

mmtiernan

You said it was a 7-page report? What else did it measure? (Or did you get one page per appendage? LOL!)

mike_littlerock

page 1: xray/dexa view of my body on left. composition reference, and a composition trend top right, followed by a table1 that will show trend information in the future, and contains test date, age, %fat, centile, total mass, region%fat, lean mass, BMC, etc. table2 showing fat distribution android, gynoid a/g ration and total fat% again. finally at the bottom a WHO BMI classification indicating where I fall on the scale (WAY too far to the right for comfort.. right side is "obese")

page 2total body bone density body images. showing skeletal structure from test on the left of page, and densitometry reference graph showing my bone density score (by age), then table containing BMD for head, arms, legs, trunk, ribs, pelvis, spine and totals, and comparison scores for young adult and age matched.

page 3: ancillary results. detailed breakdown with more bone mass info.

page 4-5: charts and tables with trend data for head, arms legs, etc.. (my first sample, so the trending is not very interesting. lol)

page 6 image of my body titled "total body tissue quantitation" on left. table and graphic (by age) of body composition. does include trend lines indicating normal ranges by centile and age. also includes a table with information about the fat% by region (legs/trunk/total)

page 7: body composition table.with columns for tissue(%fat), region(%fat), tissue(grams), fat(g), lean(g), bmc(g) and total mass.
regions detailed are arms, legs, trunk, android, gynoid and total.
also has fat mass ratios chart at bottom.