SOZO®
A Bio Impedance Spectroscopy also known as BIS
What is SOZO® & Why is it Important?
The SOZO® is the world's most advanced device used to test fluid and tissue in the body, and can be used by your Lymphoedema Therapist, Physiotherapist or Exercise Physiologist.
Your therapist will use the SOZO® to assess for a specific reason, for example chronic disease management or health assessments. Its also useful for measuring muscle and bone mass gains or loss.
Body Composition
One of the amazing benefits of the SOZO® is its ability to determine total body composition. This means that your therapist is able to determine details like muscle mass, fat percentage, body fluid, protein and mineral content, basal metabolic rate and much more.
This information has many uses:
- We can use it for athletes in training to help determine their strength and muscle and bone mass gains within their training regimes.
- We can use it to determine how well a person is recovering after surgery or illness. Or we can use it for the purposes of rehabilitation and returning the body to its previous level of function.
- The SOZO® also allows us to track an individual’s body composition, so we can monitor improvements over time, or flag deterioration early in order to begin intervention.
- For monitoring bone mass in people with Osteoporosis
- Overall, the SOZO® gives us great insight into the inner workings of your body.
SOZO® is able to measure the following:
- L-Dex® lymphedema index
- HF-Dex™ heart failure index
- Total body water (TBW)
- Extracellular fluid (ECF)
- Intracellular fluid (ICF)
- Skeletal muscle mass (SMM)
- Fat mass (FM)
- Fat-free mass (FFM)
- Protein and minerals
- Basal metabolic rate (BMR)
- Phase angle
- Body mass index (BMI)
- Segmental analysis
Use in Lymphoedema treatment
When testing a person for lymphoedema, the result is called an LDex score. This score helps identify the early stages of lymphoedema, even before the person notices any symptoms.
If a person has Lymphoedema, the LDex test result helps the therapist monitor fluid changes. This is valuable to monitor the effectiveness of compression garments and other treatments.
Early detection is most important to prevent, manage and control progression of this disease. Research shows that with at-home intervention combined with early SOZO® readings, there is a 95% reduction of lymphoedema progression. So the SOZO® is a magnificent tool to allow us to treat lymphoedema before it becomes a major concern.
How it works
The SOZO® works by sending a very mild electrical current through the body via the hand and foot pads. It’s so gentle you can’t feel it at all, and it’s completely pain free. However, for this reason, it’s not appropriate for people with pacemakers or other electrical implants,or pregnant women.
Prior to your assessment on the SOZO®, we’ll take your height and weight to ensure we get best accuracy. We’ll also wipe down the pads to ensure they’re damp, because this helps us get the best reading.
Once you’re positioned on the SOZO®, the reading only takes about a minute, and it’s completely painless.
And that’s it! The SOZO® then generates a report and we can gather all the information we need to proceed with your care
Considerations for reliable results when using the SOZO®
- Avoid caffeine 2hrs prior to your appointment
- Avoid alcohol 8hrs prior to your appointment
- Try to avoid meals for 8hrs prior to your appointment and aim to be consistent with appointment time if you are scheduling a follow up appointment
- Consume a similar level of fluid & food intake at any follow up appointment
- Activity level - avoid exercise 4hrs prior to your appointment
- Toilet - empty your bladder prior to your appointment
Contraindications for use of the SOZO®
- Any electrical active implanted devices eg. pacemakers, defibrillators, electronic life support devices, deep brain stimulators
- Pregnancy - the SOZO® device has not been validated for this population group.
Pricing
- SOZO® Consultation (15 mins) $43
