World Osteoporosis Day - How we're using Echolight Technology to support the cause.

EXTERNAL PRESS RELEASE 

Press Contact:

Debby Hester, (919) 774-1355, /Blog/world-osteoporosis-day-how-we-re-using-echolight-technology-to-support-the-cause, https://www.centralcarolinaortho.com/  

For Immediate Release:

Central Carolina Orthopaedic Associates implements innovative technology to combat osteoporosis

Sanford, N.C. — October 20, 2021 – For several months, CCOA has been helping patients diagnose osteoporosis through a ground-breaking technology called Radiofrequency Echographic Multi Spectrometry (or Echolight). Unlike the more common DXA Scan bone health technology, Echolight doesn’t use X-Rays to assess bone density. With its ultrasound technology, Echolight can accurately measure BMD and also provides a measure of bone quality. 

CCOA’s Echolight services are already in high demand. The team has received calls from patients from as far away as Salt Lake City and have already used the technology to help patients who live outside of North Carolina.

The dedication CCOA has displayed through efforts like Echolight is precisely what earned it a spot as a participant in the Own the Bone® quality improvement (QI) program. The year-long program begins October 20 on World Osteoporosis Day and will help raise awareness of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease.

Selected by the American Orthopaedic Association, CCOA has received tools to establish a fracture prevention program, or fracture liaison service (FLS). This new tool will help CCOA ensure fragility fracture patients are identified and receive appropriate evaluation, diagnosis and treatment.  

Approximately 10 million adults in the U.S. have osteoporosis, and an additional 44 million have low bone mass. Unfortunately, most will go undiagnosed and untreated. When a person has osteoporosis, their bones can break too easily. These broken bones, also known as fragility fractures, are often the first sign that a person has the disease and can create even larger complications down the road. 

Sadly, only 20% of the nearly two million people who experience fragility fractures each year are tested or treated for osteoporosis, according to The American Orthopaedic Association. Plus, fragility fractures are expensive, incurring nearly $19 billion in related costs every year. By 2025, experts predict those numbers will rise to nearly three million fractures and $25.3 billion in yearly costs.

Through Own the Bone®, CCOA will continue implementing evidence-based measures to help improve patient care after a fracture. Such measures include: 

• Teaching patients about nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle changes.
• Recommending and implementing bone mineral density testing.
• Discussing any necessary pharmacotherapy and treatment.
• Providing written communication to patients and their family physician regarding the patient’s specific risk factors and treatment recommendations.  

As an Own the Bone® participant, CCOA demonstrates its commitment to helping patients understand their risk for future fractures and steps they can take to prevent them.

“It is important to educate those patients at risk early on about proper nutrition, adequate and appropriate exercise and other factors that contribute to bone loss,” Dr. Andrew Bush, founder of CCOA, said. “As medical providers, we ultimately want to prevent these patients from suffering fragility fractures, which happen due to bone loss.”

There are some steps patients can take to protect their bones:

• Get adequate calcium and vitamin D, either through diet or supplements.
• Engage in regular weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercise.
• Avoid smoking, and limit alcohol consumption to less than 3 drinks a day.

If a patient is over 50 and breaks a bone, they should talk to their health care provider to get a bone density screening to determine whether osteoporosis is the cause and learn additional steps necessary to prevent future fractures. For more information about osteoporosis, fragility fractures, and CCOA’s Echo Light technology, check out our blog.

About Central Carolina Orthopaedic Associates

CCOA is an independent, community-based and physician-owned health care practice that provides elective and urgent orthopaedic surgery and musculoskeletal care to its local communities. Dr. Bush founded CCOA in Sanford, North Carolina in 2007. Then, in 2011, the practice expanded to Pittsboro, North Carolina. The CCOA team uses state-of-the-art orthopaedic care to help patients get back to work, family, and doing the things they love. For more information, call 919-774-1355 (Sanford location) or 919-545-5551 (Pittsboro location).