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Detect Osteoporosis & Osteopenia Early

With: Kevin Ellis

About the Episode

Understand the tests for osteoporosis and better protect yourself against bone loss!

Join Kevin Ellis, Forbes-featured Integrative Health Coach, podcaster, YouTuber and better known as Bone Coach™ as he breaks down the ins and outs of osteoporosis. He shares his years of experience working in bone health, and gives actionable steps listeners can take to reduce and prevent osteoporosis and osteopenia.

Listen now, and catch early signs of bone loss today!

What We Discuss

Moving towards stronger bones, prevention, and resolution of osteoporosis may seem difficult, but Kevin Ellis has proven many times over that it is possible! Osteoporosis means “porous bone,” and is a condition characterized by not enough bone formation, excessive bone loss, or a combination of both, resulting in reduced bone density and bone quality. This increases your risk of fracture, and is one of the biggest concerns that come with aging.

Early Testing for Osteoporosis & Osteopenia

Osteopenia is a precursor to osteoporosis, which is also characterized by low bone mass. Both osteoporosis and osteopenia are determined by a bone density scan, which is not usually performed until you’re 65 unless requested. This scan uses a very low level of radiation and measures your bone’s mineral density.

A score of +1 or -1 is considered normal and healthy. -1 to -2. 5 is considered osteopenia. -2.5 and lower is considered osteoporosis, and the greater that negative number becomes, the more severe the osteoporosis. Kevin encourages people to get a baseline earlier in life because it could be that you also didn’t build up enough bone in your younger years.

However, the scan doesn’t show bone quality, which is the structural integrity and micro architecture of the bone, which combined create bone strength. There’s an add-on software called trabecular bone score (TBS) that can help fill in the “quality” part of the picture. One of the most sensitive markers for bone resorption, or bone breakdown, is measured by the CTX Serum or the C.T. Low peptide tests which measure the activity level of cells that are breaking down your bone. If that activity level is elevated, it can be an indicator of active bone loss.

There are also bone-specific alkaline phosphatase tests, which detect early signs of osteoblast activity. This is an important test if a person also has high or elevated serum calcium because it indicates a chance of bone cancer or other serious health issues.

Optimal Ranges

On CTX Serum tests, the optimal range is quite wide. Anywhere from 100 to 1000 is the standard range. However,t if somebody is up in the high 100s and it’s not an error on the tes, it could mean that there’s something in the present contributing to bone loss. If it’s on the lower end, it can be an indicator that there’s lower bone turnover, not a lot of bone loss happening, or your levels are stable.

When testing for osteoporosis and osteopenia, you also need to look at bone formation and what those numbers indicate. Everyone is different, so you need to consult with a healthcare specialist to have a holistic view.

Treatment & Prevention for Osteoporosis

When people go to Kevin, they often say they want to reverse osteoporosis or osteopenia, which is a great goal to have, but you need to focus on the bigger picture. You’re not going to see results in your bone density scan for at least a year because it’s not a quick fix. There are no magic cures, and this process takes time. So you have to look at leading indicators and start doing things in your life to get you moving in the right direction.

The biggest hurdle is figuring out if you have any kind of root causes that are still contributing to bone loss. So getting to the root cause, working with functional medicine practitioners and naturopathic doctors, and knowing how to have those conversations is key to early prevention and reversal.

The Role of Heavy Metals

Heavy metal exposure is stored in the bones, and when it starts to deteriorate, it can release those heavy metals back into the body. This happens especially in postmenopausal women which causes an autointoxication that needs to be identified and dealt with. Getting provoked urine tests is recommended when testing for heavy metals

If you’re young and have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, you want to get checked for celiac, and if you have celiac, you want to get checked for osteoporosis. It’s a bidirectional link. This is why it’s critical to work with a functional medicine doctor.

Guest Bio

Kevin Ellis, better known as Bone Coach™, is a Forbes-featured Integrative Health Coach, podcaster, YouTuber, and is the founder of BoneCoach.com.

After an osteoporosis diagnosis in his early 30’s, he realized just how challenging it is for the average person to get the right stronger bones plan in place.

Today, not only has he transformed his own health, and made continued progress on his own journey, he’s now dedicated his life to helping people with osteopenia and osteoporosis gain clarity and confidence that improving is possible.

Through a unique 3-step process and a world class coaching program called the Stronger Bones Solution™, Kevin and his team of credentialed experts have helped people in over 1500+ cities around the world get confident in their stronger bones plan.

His mission is to help millions of people around the globe build stronger bones… and help our children and grandchildren have the education, resources, and nourishment needed to prevent osteoporosis and other diseases in the future so they can lead long, active lives.