# Bone a little fuzzy on xray?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bone-a-little-fuzzy-on-xray/788892>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 13, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bone-a-little-fuzzy-on-xray/788892 "2017-06-13T19:54:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Brodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Brodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brodi)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bone-a-little-fuzzy-on-xray/788892/1 "2017-06-13T19:54:22Z")

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What would make one of the long bones in your arm a little fuzzy on xray? Only one side looked a little fuzzy and the bone looked other wise normal.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bone-a-little-fuzzy-on-xray/788892/2 "2017-06-13T19:58:20Z")

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My first thought would be something with the imaging apparatus, rather than with the bone itself. Maybe something causing the X-ray source to not act as a point source, so you’re getting a penumbra? But I don’t know enough about exactly how those machines work to say for sure.

But if you’ve had an X-ray done, the image should have been analyzed by a professional. What did they say?

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**Author:** ![Brodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Brodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brodi)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bone-a-little-fuzzy-on-xray/788892/3 "2017-06-13T20:01:07Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> My first thought would be something with the imaging apparatus, rather than with the bone itself. Maybe something causing the X-ray source to not act as a point source, so you’re getting a penumbra? But I don’t know enough about exactly how those machines work to say for sure.
> 
> But if you’ve had an X-ray done, the image should have been analyzed by a professional. What did they say?

He sent it out to be read by a radiologist (he is a PA). They were taking an x-ray of my elbow and he noticed the “fuzz”.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bone-a-little-fuzzy-on-xray/788892/4 "2017-06-13T20:03:22Z")

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Movement during the exposure could cause it - movement in the form of slight rotation could result in uneven blurring.

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bone-a-little-fuzzy-on-xray/788892/5 "2017-06-13T21:15:54Z")

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Maybe you’re part Bigfoot.