“I have been diagnosed with osteopenia. What is the course of treatment for this disease?”
I have been diagnosed with osteopenia. Right now I'm taking medication for it, but should I be doing anything else alongside of that?
3 Answers
Osteopenia is the precursor to osteoporosis. You have to decrease bone turnover to slow it down. You ensure adequate vitamin D and calcium supplementation. Take any approved medications recommended by your doctor only after you have discussed the benefits and risks including possible expected side effects. Light weight bearing exercise helps improve bone mineralization. And balance training helps prevent falls and fractures.
Depending on your health the best way to keep calcium in the bone is weight lifting or isometric exercises
Osteopenia is a precursor to osteoporosis. The most important thing you can do is perform resistant exercises to improve the density of your bones. Resistance will cause your body to build bone mass and no resistance will cause your body to breakdown bone because it is efficient like that. Simply put, if you don't use it you lose it. The other thing you can do is take daily vitamin D(at least 800 IU) and calcium only if you have low calcium. Your doctors have likely checked for underlying diseases contributing to this including hyperthyroidism or hyperparathyroidism.
Jack Stephens, MD
Jack Stephens, MD
