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What Are The Physical Demands Of Radiology/mammography?

I am going back to college and majoring in Radiology. I then plan on specializing in mammography. I have a pinched nerve and a herniated disc in my lower back. This condition has not improved in 3 years since my accident. I was wondering what the physical demands of mammography are on a daily basis and if it would be possible to perform the job with my back condition.

Posted on November 7, 2009 at 1:46 am by radiology · Permalink
In: Radiology Technician Jobs · Tagged with: , , ,

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  1. Written by cool_can
    on November 7, 2009 at 2:28 am
    Permalink

    All specialities performed in radiologist or specialist offices routinely examine ambulatory patients.
    If you specialize in mammography, you can easily do that as there is no heavy lifting.
    Densitometry is another area you could also specialize in as it also requires no heavy lifting.
    Ultrasound is another speciality you could easily handle if you worked in an office.
    You can also do MRIs and cat scans in doctors offices.
    You can perform routine radiography in a radiologists office or an orthopaedics office and it would not be overly taxing on your back (ambulatory patients.)
    Really the only non-strenuous exams you can consistently perform in hospitals are mammograms and densitometry exams because those pieces of equipment are not portable and the patients are ambulatory.
    Just stay away from hospitals which is where you run into wheel chair patients, stretcher patients and portable exams.
    Ultrasound (in hospitals) is portable which means the technologist has to push the unit from the imaging department to the patients room, emergency room or to surgery, lot of pushing there.
    In addition, simple chest x-rays can turn into a nightmare if you have a wheel chair or stretcher patient.
    Stick to any thing that you can do in a doctor’s office. Or, consider portable MRI or portable densitometry. They are transported in semi-trucks and the patient walks into the truck to have the study done. Again, those are ambulatory patients.
    So, there are actually quite a few avenues available to you in radiography.
    Good luck.
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