Body Composition Medicine

Body composition medicine goes beyond the number on the scale to evaluate your health at a deeper, more meaningful level. At The Laurel Highlands Center in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, skilled physicians Courtney Floyd, MD, and Ryan Floyd, MD, use advanced body composition analysis as part of a comprehensive, medically guided approach to optimizing your health. By understanding how your body stores fat, builds muscle, and functions metabolically, your provider can develop a personalized treatment plan that supports weight management, disease prevention, and long-term wellness. If you’re ready to take a more precise, medical approach to your health, call or schedule your body composition evaluation online.

What is body composition medicine?

Body composition medicine is a clinical approach that evaluates the percentages of fat, muscle, bone, and water in your body to better understand your overall health. Rather than relying solely on weight or Body Mass Index (BMI), this approach uses advanced diagnostic tools to assess how your body is functioning on a metabolic level.

At The Laurel Highlands Center, body composition medicine helps identify key health markers, including:

• Body fat percentage
• Lean muscle mass
• Bone density
• Visceral fat (fat surrounding internal organs)
• Fat distribution patterns

These insights allow your provider to detect early risk factors for conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and metabolic disorders, and guide more precise medical interventions.

How can body composition medicine benefit me?

Body composition medicine provides a more accurate and actionable understanding of your health than weight alone. By evaluating your body's structure and function, your provider can create a personalized plan that supports both immediate goals and long-term outcomes.

This approach can help:

• Guide medically supervised weight loss and metabolic health programs
• Identify harmful fat distribution linked to chronic disease
• Preserve or build lean muscle during weight loss or aging
• Monitor bone health and reduce osteoporosis risk
• Optimize nutrition, physical activity, and lifestyle strategies
• Track meaningful progress beyond the scale

Instead of focusing solely on weight loss, body composition medicine helps you improve your overall health, energy levels, and longevity with targeted, data-driven care.

How is body composition measured?

A key tool used in body composition medicine is a whole-body DEXA scan. The Laurel Highlands Center uses the Hologic Horizon DXA scanner, a highly advanced imaging system that precisely measures fat mass, muscle distribution, and bone density.

During your scan, you lie comfortably on a table while the scanner moves over your body. The process is quick, non-invasive, and uses a very low dose of radiation.

Within minutes, your provider receives a detailed report that includes:

• Total and regional body fat percentage
• Visceral fat levels
• Lean muscle distribution
• Bone density measurements

These results serve as the foundation for your personalized medical plan.

How can I improve my body composition?

Body composition medicine focuses on making targeted, sustainable improvements based on your individual results. At The Laurel Highlands Center, your provider may combine body composition analysis with medical guidance, metabolic testing, and lifestyle support to help you achieve optimal outcomes.

Additional tools may include:

• KORR VO₂ Max testing to assess cardiovascular fitness and endurance
• KORR Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) testing to determine how many calories your body burns at rest

Using this data, your provider can recommend tailored strategies for nutrition, physical activity, and, when appropriate, medical interventions.

By taking a comprehensive, medically guided approach, body composition medicine empowers you to make smarter, more effective changes that support long-term health. Call or click online today to get started.