The doctor breaks the news: you have osteopenia, but this diagnosis isn’t as bad as it sounds. Dr. Kenneth Galang, a physiatrist on the medical staff of Lee Memorial Health System says, “its better than the full-blown osteoporosis. It’s a stage where you can start to do some different things to try and change your bone density and prevent the progression to osteoporosis.”

Right now, doctors and researchers are at odds over whether or not to institute drugs or hormone therapy to help women diagnosed with this kind of bone loss.

In the meantime, Dr. Galang recommends weight bearing exercises. “There’s a study that actually studies women with osteopenia and went over about a year. One group did weight bearing exercises, the other group was relatively sedentary, the sedentary group lost bone mass and the exercise group actually gained .7% of the bone density back,” adds Dr. Galang.

He also says post-menopausal women, or those with a family history of osteoporosis should speak with their doctor about a bone density test. “Taking a look at the hip and back, where we see most of the fractures. The bone density test gives us a value of what your bone density is as opposed to a normal person at 30 years of age,” explains Dr. Galang.

As for preventing osteopenia, the doctor says regular exercise is the best medicine to keep those bones intact.