Bone Health Center

The Waterbury HEALTH Bone Health Center’s main goal is to help our patients build and keep healthy bones.

We specialize in the prevention, treatment, and comprehensive care for adults with osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, deterioration of bone tissue, and disruption of bone architecture, causing compromised bone strength, and an increase in the risk of fracture. Osteoporosis causes over two million fractures each year in men and women over the age of 50.

The Bone Health Center includes our orthopedic fracture and trauma specialists and endocrinologists to coordinate a patient’s osteoporosis care through acute fracture services, reconstruction and rehabilitation.

We have a Fracture Liaison service that identifies patients who have suffered a fracture due to osteoporosis, initiates patient care, and coordinates further treatment.

We are also members of The American Orthopaedic Association’s “Own The Bone” program. “Own The Bone” is a national post-fracture, multidisciplinary fragility fracture prevention initiative, empowering and supporting its members to provide 360 degree care for people with bone health concerns.

The outpatient Bone Health Center will recommend personalized treatment based on individual bone density and laboratory testing as well as comprehensive evaluations.

Comprehensive Osteoporosis Care

The Bone Center is devoted to providing comprehensive osteoporosis care including:

• Osteoporosis Screening and Diagnosis. The most common test for measuring bone mineral density is dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Bone density measurement by DXA at the hip and spine is generally considered the most reliable way to diagnose osteoporosis and predict fracture risk.
  
  If your BMD is below a certain level, you will be diagnosed with osteoporosis and your doctor may recommend both lifestyle approaches to promote bone health and medications to lower your chance of breaking a bone.
  
  
• Treatment and Therapies. The goals for treating osteoporosis are to slow or stop bone loss and to prevent fractures. Your health care provider may recommend:
  • Proper nutrition
  • Lifestyle changes
  • Exercise
  • Fall prevention to help prevent fractures
  • Medications 
    • Medications subscribed include Bisphosphonates, Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) Analogues, Monoclonal Antibodies, Vitamin D preparations and Calcium supplements
  • Surgery
    
    
• One-on-one Patient Education.
  
  
• Coordination of Care. This includes medical imaging, laboratory/diagnostic testing, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy.