Tests and imaging
What X-ray, MRI, ultrasound and bone-density scans can show, and what the words in a report actually mean.
Bone density scan (DXA)
A few minutes, a very low dose, and a number called a T-score.
Musculoskeletal ultrasound
Tendons and soft tissue in minutes, watched while you move.
Nerve conduction studies and EMG
How fast and how strongly a nerve carries a signal, and where.
What a knee MRI shows
Menisci, cruciates and cartilage — read against your symptoms.
What an MRI scan is
Far more detail than an X-ray, including things that are not the cause.
X-rays of bones and joints
Bone clearly, soft tissue barely — what it can and cannot answer.