Optical density index can be a criterion of bone mineral saturation, both at the stage of primary diagnosis and in the dynamics of observation of patients with shoulder periarthrosis and osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint.

A comparative retrospective analysis of the results of a clinical - X-ray examination of 93 women doctors of ultrasound examinations of working age and 60 people was performed. control groups of age and experience comparable work with persons of major groups (nurses not associated with exposure to occupational ultrasound). Degenerative-dystrophic changes were revealed in the form of: osteorthrosis of the shoulder, elbow, wrist and interphalangeal joints, periarthrosis of the shoulder and elbow joints, small cyst-like clearances and enostoses in the bones of the wrists of the most loaded upper limb. The level of decrease in the mineral saturation and thickness of bone trabeculae in the areas of interest of the radius bones and distal phalanges of the hands was dependent on the severity of the clinical picture of vegetative-sensory polyneuropathy. Indicators of bone density and the state of bone trabeculae in the spongy structures of the distal radial bones and distal phalanges can be a kind of marker of the severity of OP. The use of modern methods for assessing the density and structure of bone tissue allows us to reduce the negative role of the so-called "human factor" and thus