The accurate assessment of body composition offers one of the most important components in a comprehensive health program. These types of assessments have become a well-known, significant tool used by fitness and wellness centers, sports clinics, and hospitals. Assessments are used to identify a client’s potential health risks due to high or low levels of fat and the accumulation of abdominal fat. They are also used to assess the effectiveness of nutritional programs and exercise to help clients attain their health goals.
How much fat is too much? The average percentage of body fat for men is 15% and 23% for women. Any percentage in excess of 25% for males and 32% for females qualifies as overweight.
Confusion arises when selecting the right method to best assess body composition. Today, there are many body assessment tools available. Ultrasound technology is becoming a popular form of body composition assessment. It has long been used in a variety of clinical settings, including obstetrics and cancer detection. Using ultrasound as a way to measure body composition has been around since the 1950s. It safely and accurately measures tissue thickness and position. Ultrasound measurements work by using high frequency sound waves and their echoes to obtain images from within the human body.
In the last two decades, a series of articles, published worldwide by scientists, concluded that the ultrasound technology method for measuring human body composition is more accurate than the caliper (skin-fold) methods, and comparable to computed tomography. Ultrasound technology measures tissue thickness and not electrical impulses, like bioelectrical impedance (BIA). None of the BIA protocol limitations, such as hydration, exercise, caffeine, or time of day, impact measurements taken with ultrasound technology.
Ultrasound technology offers better health risk assessments. Unlike hydrostatic weighing and air displacement, which are uncomfortable and expensive, ultrasound technology is accurate, non-invasive and inexpensive. It provides: total body fat percentage, body fat distribution, and localized measurements – which are better indicators of overall health risks than other assessment tools, such as near-infrared and bioelectrical impedance.
The bottom line is ultrasound technology is an accurate, comfortable, and inexpensive solution to your body composition needs. For more information on how ultrasound technology can benefit you and your club, please contact us.
Donna Marie Vazquez is the CEO of IntelaMetrix, Inc. She can be contacted at 877.838.9918, or by email at donna@intelametrix.com.
