Bone And Joint Health: Occupational Therapist Nathan Sharbaugh Discussed The 5-Point Screening Program

Free X-rays, a bone density check, a balance screen, and a grip strength test that might say more about your future than you expect, all in one community stop. We sit down with Nathan Sharbaugh, director of the Innovation Center and a trained occupational therapist, to explain the Joint Effort Podcast’s five-point bone and joint health screening program and why it’s built for real life, not perfect routines or perfect access to care.

We walk through each part of the screening: nutrition, fall-risk questions, a quick balance and sit-to-stand test, grip strength testing, bone density screening using ultrasound technology, and a mobile X-ray service we bring out into Western Pennsylvania. We also talk about why people love the hands-on experience, how immediate feedback helps the information actually stick, and how we connect community members to follow-up care when something looks off.

Then we zoom in on the big takeaways. Grip strength isn’t just a “gym stat” it’s tied in the research to independence, fall risk, bone density, and broader health outcomes. And fall prevention isn’t a lecture about being careful; it’s about the environment you live in, the habits you repeat, and simple changes that lower risk today. If you’ve ever worried about osteoporosis, osteopenia, arthritis, or staying steady as you age, this conversation turns those concerns into clear, doable next steps.

Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a simple starting point for better mobility, and leave a review if the show helps you. What screening would you want to try first?

To learn more about The Bone and Joint Center at Magee-Womens Hospital visit:  https://www.pghbjc.com
Dr. Noelle DiGioia Guthrie
300 Halket St. 
Pittsburgh, PA, 15213 
412-683-7272  

To learn more about The Wellness Center for Bone and Joint Health visit:  https://www.boneandjointhealth.org
Tiffany Belculfine
300 Halket St., Suite 1601 
Pittsburgh, PA, 15213 
412-641-8594  

Transcript

Welcome And Meet The Team

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to the Joint Effort Podcast, where mobility meets reality and your future self says thank you. Your host Noel Joy Guthrie. You're in the right place. Every day, break it down and build you back up with a personalized plan for real life. The show is information without a substantial talking. Now, let's get you moving. Here are Dr. Noelle and Tiffany.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Welcome everyone to the Joint Effort Podcast. My name is Dr. Noel DeJoya Guthrie. I'm an orthopedic surgeon at the Bone and Joint Center of McGee Women's Hospital.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

And I'm Tiffany Belkefine, Physician Assistant in the Wellness Center for Bone and Joint Health at McGee. Today we are very excited to be joined by the director of our Innovation Center and also trained occupational therapist, Nathan Sharbon. Nathan, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yeah, thank you. It's uh it's a real pleasure and joy to be here.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

We are hoping today that we can go through some of the information on our five-step screening program that we can take out into the community and educate patients about. If you'd like to let us know about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Yeah,

The Five Free Screenings

SPEAKER_00 1:35

of course. So um our five-point screening uh for bone and joint health is it's really, really unique. And to the best of my knowledge, and please correct me if you guys know differently, but I don't think anything like this exists uh across the country. It is really unique, but it's also so impactful. Um, so our five-point screening program, we have um a nutrition screening. Um, we screen for falls and balance. Uh, we do a grip strength test, um, we do a bone density screening using ultrasound technology. And um, one of the most popular ones is we have a mobile x-ray machine that we'll we will bring out to the community um and offer free x-rays. And then Tiffany, as RPA, will review the x-rays, talk to the community member, the individual about um, you know, what she's seeing with the x-rays and and steps to take next. Um, and most importantly, all of it is free. This is an entirely free screening process um that we we're very fortunate. I think it's part of um the favorite our one of the favorite things that we get to do is be out in the community and um reach these people through all of these screenings. So yeah, it's a ton of fun. I know um Tiffany, Noelle, and Dr. Guthrie have been involved with this as well. So I don't know if you guys want to talk at all about how much you've enjoyed doing it as well.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Yes, for sure. I think it's a really nice thing that we are able to take into the community. You know, people go to lots of health events and never know what kind of information they're going to get when they're there. And it's always an exciting thing for them to see something that they can touch or hold or test out. So, you know, to know that we are doing different screenings than what some other offices might be doing and that they get to hold a grip strength tester and maybe have a little friendly competition with their friend who came to the event with them. And then to actually be able to go over everything with them in real time and tell them what it all means. I think it's a really valuable piece of our care for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Yeah, and I think it's awesome because it can be for any age range. You know, a lot of times we think about osteoarthritis in our older population. Um, but you know, we go to places, we did a talk at uh medical school, we did the screening, which was really popular. We went to, you know, a fundraising event and we did it, and everyone loved x-rays. They loved everything. So I think it's important that it's impactful for, you know, a wide range of people. Um, and a lot of the things that we do, they do have real implications. You know, the the bone density scan can kind of give you an idea about your osteopenia or osteoporosis. Um, and then also also x-rays very similar. And even grip strength, there's been shown that grip strength kind of um dictates your longevity in literature. Um, so these screenings and similar with fall and nutrition, obviously very important to daily life, but they have real implications in your life. And we help connect you after knowing those things, we can help connect you to providers who can um, you know, provide further treatment for these types of things. So I think, you know, it's number one, fun, number two, free, number three, it really can help um your daily life and help prevent things that um we want to prevent in the future and impact your health.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

Yes.

Who Benefits And Why It Works

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Nate, then how do you think patients respond to the the five-point screening testings?

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Yeah, that's a that's a great question. Um, and I I think the response is always overwhelmingly positive. Um, you know, we're we're reaching populations that may not be able to get to a doctor or get to a hospital. Um, they may not have insurance, they can't afford it. Um, and being able to give them the this information that's it's not just about one part of their health, but it's about so much, so much more how engaged they are. And we give them very practical, real advice and tools that they can use to help um curtail any of the potential problems that come up. Um, so for example, um Dr. Guthrie was talking about the grip strength testing, and and she's absolutely right. It is connected to longevity and wellness, and uh so much research is coming out right now that there is a correlation with um low gri lower grip strength and falls, lower grip strength and bone density. And it even has a correlation with neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, dementia. And it's just so fascinating because you know, all we're really doing is testing how hard you can squeeze something, but we have to use our hands to interact with our world, to open doors, to take a shower, to get up from a chair, to um squeeze a bottle of soap, all of that. We we need those skills to be able to stay independent. Um, and what we'll do is if if they do show that they have a lower score, we'll provide them with um grip strength trainers or stress balls that they can go home and and work on practicing their grip strength so that they can stay independent um for as long as as they possibly can and live a very engaged, fulfilled life as they continue to age.

Grip Strength Links To Longevity

SPEAKER_03 6:19

How did it come about that we became to the place to start offering the screening programs to people?

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Oh, that's a that's another really good question. Um you guys are hitting me with the heavy hitters. Um I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer this, didn't I?

unknown 6:36

No, that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Um I I think, you know, definitely all of us agree that it is something that was missing, you know. So I think it was something that we were able to really bring to people. Um and, you know, even if it was before any of our time together, you know, it was it was an idea that started as a resource for people for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

I mean, bone and joint health in general in the communities is a very um low, like educated topic. So I think this was a way that came about to really connect people to their bone and it connect people, introduce them to and educate them on bone and joint health. And really, um, you know, I think that was the grassroots effort was to provide connection to bone and joint health and education. So this was a good tool to do that as well as to propel people to be involved in their bone and joint health. Um do you ever recommend that adults like repeat the screenings to see if they improve or I don't know, is that something that you guys focus on?

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Yeah, it is. I I think um especially what with grip strength, I know we talked about this or with with bone density, um, where you can see change over time. So if we provide them the exercises and they do them, they often want to come back and check. So, you know, we talked about some of the scarier things that come with lower grip strength or shouldn't say come with, but have a correlation to lower grip strength. Um that that is a really big motivating factor of like I really want to know where I'm at now. Did I did I improve my score? I want to know I don't want to have to be a false risk, I don't want to have to worry about developing a neurodegenerative disease. Um, so it is really engaging, and and people often do want to do the tests more than once. And and same with bone density. Um, I'm sure you guys have talked about this in previous episodes, but having a fall with osteoporosis is is really scary. I mean, that that is uh um a a big process and procedure. Um, so they might want their bone density scanned again to make sure I want to see if I got any better. I do want to improve my health. And that's ultimately what we're trying to do is get um community members to really care and understand what their bone and joint health means, um, especially for longevity as they age.

Fall Prevention At Home

SPEAKER_03 8:48

I've heard you twice now mention fall prevention. From your standpoint as an occupational therapist, what kinds of things should people be aware of to do at home? What should they know about? What should they focus on? How important is that to all of our patients out there?

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Yeah, that's a good question. Thank you, Tiffany. Um first I want to talk about the fall prevention screening because we actually offer two different screenings. One of them is a CDC checklist that will talk more about um things we're not always thinking about with falls. Like, do you get up and rush to the bathroom in the middle of the night? Do you have to hold on to furniture to walk around your house? Um and then the other's um side of the screening is um the um it's a balance test. So we see how often or how many times they can sit up and stand from uh I think it's 30 seconds. We we just see and then we can compare it to their same-aged peers. Um, but both of those are so important. And as an occupational therapist, I I love that because it's falls don't ever happen in isolation. Falls are happening when somebody's in their house doing an activity, interacting with their environment. And balance and strength, they are so important. You you need to have good balance, you need to have good strength. But that's not the only part of this puzzle when we look at false prevention. We want to make sure our house is decluttered, we want to make sure you're um participating in activities that are are safe or you're you're using technology that make uh falls less likely to happen, like using a socket or a reacher. Um, but it is, I think, very uniquely as an occupational therapist, we want to take this zoomed-out approach and not just focus on the person's performance skills, but what are they doing in their environment and how can I change their environment um to help prevent falls or or lower the risk of falls?

SPEAKER_03 10:41

I love that.

Find A Screening And What To Expect

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Thank you so much for weighing in on all of that. That's amazing information.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Is there anything else regarding the screenings that you feel our listeners at home should know or be aware of or want to ask us about in the future if they run into us somewhere?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Um we do um we do share, I think, on our social media channels where we do all of our screenings across Western Pennsylvania. So please come check them out. As I I mentioned, they they're entirely free. Um, you're getting valuable, very, very valuable information about your bone and joint health and in your overall health. And along with practical, real advice, um techniques, therapy, exercises, you get to have a discussion uh with um Tiffany here if you do get an x-ray. Um and you'll just learn so much. Um, and and all the stuff you will learn is just so valuable that I we really encourage you to come out and and see what we're doing. It's a ton of fun. And the biggest sell is that it's free. I promise you it's free. We would love to love to see you guys out there.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

And how long should people plan to be at an event if they were to do all the screenings?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

So if you're getting all five screenings, it would probably take uh 20, 25 minutes to get all five. Um, and x-ray is a big part of that. An x-ray will take probably 10 to 15 minutes because that does include the the conversation and discussion consultation with Tiffany here. Um, but grip strength testing can take 30 seconds, bone density, maybe three to five minutes. And the others are are again probably less than a minute long. So it is pretty quick and you can learn a lot of great information in a short amount of time.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

And you can do them all at once, correct?

SPEAKER_00 12:21

You can do them all at once, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Okay, great. Yeah. Not a lot of other health options where you can get that many pieces of information all at one time. One stop shop. Love that. All right, Nathan. Thank you so much for your time today. We really value your insight and everything that you've been able to inform our listeners about today.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yeah, thank you guys. This was a lot of fun, and I'm I'm happy to provide any other help people might need.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

That's today's dose of strength, balance, and better movement from the Joint Effort Podcast. Ready for care that fits your life and gets you moving? To schedule an appointment with Dr. Noel for your surgical and injection needs, call 412-683-7272. Or visit PGHBJC.com. Or if you are looking for lifestyle changes that are not searchable, contact Tiffany Belgifine. Call 412-641-8594, or visit bone at jointhelp.org. Healthy bones and happy joints make every day better. Until next time, keep moving, stay steady, and take care of yourself.