What to Expect at a Screen My Bones Screening Day

What is a Screen My Bones screening day?

A screening day is a pop-up session where Screen My Bones brings a radiation-free REMS bone health assessment to a partner venue, such as a gym, health store or workplace, and runs a timetable of individual 30-minute appointments. Rather than visiting a hospital department, you book a slot at a venue near you and the screening practitioner comes to you. You can see the venues currently taking bookings on our locations page, including London, Leeds, Bath and Huddersfield.

If you are an employer or venue interested in hosting a day for your own staff or members, our assessment days service explains how that works, and our guide to employee bone health screening covers what staff receive on the day.

How do you book, and do you need a referral?

You book online and you do not need a GP referral. Choose a venue and date on our booking page, pick an appointment time and complete your details. Before your appointment you will receive pre-appointment information confirming the time and place, and you will be asked to set up your free Screen My Bones app account, so your results have somewhere to land as soon as they are ready.

There is no paperwork marathon on the day itself: the practitioner simply confirms your details with you when you arrive.

What do you need to prepare before your appointment?

Nothing in particular. A REMS assessment requires no special preparation. Wear whatever you are comfortable in: you stay dressed for the scan, although you may need to move clothing out of the way so the practitioner can reach your hip and lower back. If you are curious how this compares with the preparation advice for an X-ray-based DEXA scan, see our guide on how to prepare for a bone density scan.

Carers, support workers or companions are welcome to come along with you. If you have any access or communication needs, please let us know when booking; our accessibility page has more detail.

What happens when you arrive?

A trained screening practitioner welcomes you, confirms your details and walks you through what will happen before anything starts. This is a good moment to ask any questions about the process. Then you lie down comfortably on an examination table, ready for the scan.

What happens during the scan?

The scan takes around 20 to 25 minutes and is painless and non-invasive. The REMS scan uses ultrasound rather than X-rays, so there is no ionising radiation involved. Two areas are scanned, one at a time: your hip and your spine. For each one, the practitioner places a small probe against the skin while the system records the readings, and all you need to do is lie still and relax.

Because REMS is radiation-free, it is designed to be repeatable, which is why many people use it to keep track of their bone health over time. You can read more about the technology on our REMS technology page, or see how it compares with a hospital DEXA scan in REMS vs DEXA. For a general comparison of scan times, our guide to how long a bone density scan takes covers both.

When and how do you get your results?

Your full results report arrives by email within 24 to 48 hours of your appointment. It is also available in the free Screen My Bones app, where you can view and download your report at any time and keep future results in one place.

Your report includes your T-score and Z-score for the hip and spine, plus a Fragility Score. If you want to understand what those numbers mean before your report arrives, our guide to DEXA scan results and T-scores explains the scoring bands. A screening assessment does not replace your GP, so if your results raise questions, take your report along to your doctor.

What happens after your appointment?

After the appointment you simply carry on with your day. Once your report is in the app you can come back to it whenever you like, and if you decide to re-check your bone health in the future, you can book again in the same way.

Full details of what is included are on our bone health assessment page. When you are ready, book your screening appointment.

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This article is part of our screening technology series. It describes the practical steps of an appointment and is not medical advice.