文章讲述了作者在葡萄牙里斯本一家健康诊所进行身体成分测试和骨科治疗的经历。由于在美国进行此类检测费用高昂，作者选择在葡萄牙以较低成本获得同样的评估，这有助于她了解自己的运动损伤和慢性背痛的根源。通过 DEXA 扫描和间接测热法，她获得了身体脂肪、肌肉分布和代谢率等数据；骨科医生则通过检查发现她腿部肌肉不平衡和腘绳肌紧张是导致背痛的原因。这些发现让她能够有针对性地进行康复训练，显著改善了身体状况，并对健康管理有了新的认识。

💰 **高性价比的健康检测选择：** 作者在美国纽约因身体成分测试费用高昂，转而在葡萄牙里斯本的健康诊所以更低的成本（约224美元）接受了 DEXA 扫描和间接测热法等评估，这些在美国可能高达1200美元，体现了国际医疗旅游的经济优势。

🔬 **全面了解身体状况：** DEXA 扫描提供了骨密度、肌肉质量分布和身体脂肪百分比等详细信息，而间接测热法则测量了静息代谢率。这些数据帮助作者了解了自己身体的现状，例如身体脂肪偏高但有害内脏脂肪较少，以及每日基础代谢消耗的卡路里。

🦵 **发现疼痛根源：** 通过骨科医生的检查，作者发现导致其背痛的根本原因并非如她之前认为的臀部肌肉，而是腘绳肌的异常紧张。此外，医生还指出她右腿小腿肌肉比左腿发达，这可能源于左脚在行走时为了补偿右脚跟的不适而承担了更多负荷，从而导致肌肉不平衡。

🎯 **针对性康复效果显著：** 基于骨科医生的诊断，作者开始进行针对性的康复训练，包括在健康腿上也进行物理治疗练习，并着重于缓解腘绳肌紧张。四个月后，她的背部疼痛和右脚跟问题均得到显著改善，证明了精准诊断和个性化治疗的有效性。

💡 **健康管理的整体视角：** 作者的经历表明，将身体扫描数据与专业的骨科评估相结合，能够更全面地理解身体的运作方式及其潜在的健康问题。这种整体性的健康管理方法，有助于更有效地解决慢性疼痛和优化运动表现。

I visited a Lisbon longevity clinic to address persistent injuries and lower back pain.The clinic offers body scans and osteopathy, revealing insights into muscle imbalances.These tests are costly in the US, but cost a fraction of the price in Portugal.

I'm OK with aging — it's a privilege to get older! I don't feel the need to invest in expensive supplements to subtract 15 years from my biological age or get a vampire facial to look a few years younger.

At the same time, I'm a runner, trying to learn more about my body. That's why I ended up at a longevity clinic in Lisbon, about 3,400 miles from my home in New York City.

I'd spent most of 2024 managing a few injuries. First, a grade 2 MCL tear in my left knee, after dancing in shoes that couldn't quite handle my moves. After I was cleared to run, I went a little too hard, leading to tendonitis in the Achilles and peroneal tendons of my right foot.

I did everything you're supposed to do: physical therapy, low-impact cardio, and strength training. Still, I felt frustrated and stagnant. Without my regular workout routine, I felt my muscles stiffen everywhere in my body, reviving a pain I get in my lower back when I'm not active.

I wanted to get to the bottom of these incessant, random aches. While staying in Portugal earlier this year, a friend, who's a physician, recommended I check out MetaClinic, a wellness center in the heart of Lisbon. It's marketed as a one-stop shop for wellness, offering everything from hormonal health assessments to body composition and metabolic rate testing.

While my sports doctors and physical therapists in New York City are phenomenal, it often felt like we were treating each issue separately rather than exploring how one might be leading to another. I was drawn to MetaClinic's mission of connecting the dots within the body.

As a freelance journalist with basic marketplace health insurance, I gained more from the experience than I could have imagined for a fraction of the cost in the US. And one appointment, which I decided to tack on at the last minute, may have helped identify the cause of my years-long back pain.

I got 2 body scans to measure my muscles, body fat, and metabolism

I began with two tests commonly offered at private longevity clinics, a new kind wellness center that is booming worldwide.

First, I did the DEXA scan, a low-dose X-ray that measures your bone density, muscle mass distribution, and body fat percentage. Second, the indirect calorimetry test, a breathing assessment that measures your resting metabolic rate (or, the amount of calories you burn throughout your waking day).

Together, these cost me €190 (or $224). While these tests are available in the US, I'd never considered them since they would cost up to $1,200.

According to the clinic's website, these scans would provide a vivid picture of how my body works. As a health journalist, I was a little skeptical about how much I could learn from five- to 15-minute tests.

"These are essential factors for health," Dr. Andrea Maier, one of the world's leading longevity researchers who offers these tests at her clinic in Singapore, told me.

However, she echoed my concern. These scans only give a small glimpse into the bigger picture of what's going on with my body, she said. You need to take the findings with a grain of salt, and combine them with other tests — measuring your VO2 max and studying your diet, for example.

I wanted to try it because, according to research, muscle mass distribution can tell you a lot about a body — present and future — from heart health to disease risk. I was curious to see if my year of reduced physical activity had affected my health.

The DEXA scan was a pleasant experience. After lying still on a table for about 10 minutes while my entire body was scanned inch by inch, I got my results.

Thankfully, I learned I had minimal visceral adipose tissue (a type of harmful fat), which is linked to lower inflammation and a lower risk of age-related diseases. I felt relieved! However, my total body fat content was on the high end of the normal range, at 35.8%. My technician at MetaClinic said this range was completely fine, but Maier advised I should aim to reduce it and increase my muscle mass. That didn't surprise me, given I hadn't been strength training at all, as I was afraid of aggravating my injuries while abroad.

The calorimetry test was not so simple. My technician said, "It's time to wrap you like a present," before she put a dome-like helmet over my head and wrapped my entire body in plastic.

The goal of this 15-minute test is to measure how much energy (calories) your body burns at rest, but not when it's asleep. It measures the oxygen you breathe in and the carbon dioxide you exhale, to see how efficiently your body is using oxygen to generate energy.

My results indicated that I burn, on average, about 1,400 kcal/day by just existing. (Research suggests this is in line with the average.)

For anyone looking to better understand how their body is changing over time, these tests can be a good starting point, but it doesn't tell you much in a vacuum.

The osteopath identified a source of back pain I'd never considered

At the last minute, I decided to meet with the clinic's osteopath, a licensed doctor whose medical practice looks at the whole person in a holistic sense.

I hadn't tried this area of medicine before. In New York City, one appointment with a DO (doctor of osteopathic medicine) could cost anywhere from $135-$400 out of pocket for one appointment. Here, it cost me €60 ($70).

Looking at me, she said she could tell I'd been doing calf raises on my right foot because that calf was notably bigger than my left. To achieve muscle balance between my left and right legs, she said I should be doing my physical therapy exercises on my healthy leg, too, not just on the injured side.

Then she assessed my lower back pain. While I was lying face down on the table, she started at my feet and worked her way up. She found that my hamstrings were unusually tight. Normally, when I have back pain, my physical therapists target my glutes — right beneath the joint where I feel tightness.

I hadn't considered that my pain could be stemming from my hamstring, and that it could be the result of my left foot taking on more of the load when walking to compensate for the discomfort in my right heel.

When I got back to New York City, I started working out biweekly with a friend who's a personal trainer to help address these muscle imbalances. Four months in, I can't believe how much better both my back and right heel are feeling.

Why Americans fly abroad for longevity tests

In the US, these tests don't feel affordable. I'm glad I seized this opportunity while working in Lisbon for two months through the winter.

In total, I paid just $224 for all three of these assessments without health insurance. In the US this collection of tests would have set me back between $400 and $1,200, depending on insurance coverage.

While all of the information I got from my day at MetaClinic may just be a "starting point," I found it helped me get a fresh perspective on how to manage discomfort on both sides of my body.

I have the New York Marathon coming up in November, so I'm actively working on getting my muscles prepared for the demands of training.