Prevention & Diagnostics
Body analysis: muscle, fat and water in view
The scales show kilograms. What matters is what they consist of.
Did you know?
Two people of the same weight and the same height can be built entirely differently – one with a great deal of muscle, the other with little. For your joints, that makes a considerable difference: muscle guides a joint and takes load off it; fatty tissue does not.
This becomes especially important when losing weight. Anyone who loses weight quickly often loses muscle mass as well. Yet that is precisely what is needed to take load off the knees, hips and back. A falling number on the scales is therefore not automatically a good sign. Only body composition analysis shows whether you are losing fat or muscle.
How the measurement works
The measurement is carried out on a special analysis scale. A very weak alternating current, which cannot be felt, flows through the body. Muscle tissue contains a lot of water and conducts the current well; fatty tissue conducts it poorly. From this difference the device calculates your body composition.
The measurement takes only a few seconds, is painless and uses no radiation.
What we record
- Muscle mass and its distribution
- Body fat percentage
- Body water
- Ratio of muscle mass to fat mass
- Changes over time, for example with training or during weight loss
Particularly suitable for
- Osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, when weight loss is part of the treatment
- Support during weight loss – to check that fat is lost, and not muscle
- Muscle loss with age or after a prolonged period of rest
- Rebuilding after an operation or prolonged immobilisation
- Follow-up during a training or build-up programme
- Recurrent back complaints with weak trunk muscles
What the measurement can do – and what it cannot:
The device does not measure muscle and fat directly; it calculates them from the electrical resistance of your body. A single figure is therefore a guide value, not an exact measurement. What is meaningful above all is the change over time.
So that measurements remain comparable, they should take place under similar conditions: if possible at the same time of day, not directly after a large meal and not immediately after sport.
Body composition analysis is, furthermore, not an examination of the musculoskeletal system. It complements the orthopaedic examination; it does not replace it.
Please speak to us beforehand if
- You have a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator
- You are pregnant
- You are acutely ill or have a fever
- You have an artificial joint or other metal in your body
In these cases we clarify in advance whether the measurement can be carried out and how meaningful it is.
How we proceed:
We discuss your results together and relate them to your symptoms. From this we determine what is appropriate – for example targeted muscle building, an adjusted load or support with weight loss.
On request, we measure again after a few weeks or months. That way you see in black and white whether something is moving in the right direction – even if the weight itself has stayed the same.
Would you like to know what your weight is made up of? Mention it to us at your next appointment.
Talk to us – we will be glad to advise you in person.