No Pain, No Gain - by Deb Liu - Perspectives

A couple of years ago, a friend suggested I get a DEXA scan. My doctor, also an Asian woman, reassured me it was unnecessary, given it was not within the guidelines for screening at my age. I hesitated. Maybe she was right. But I also thought back to what osteoporosis did to my mother-in-law and mom. Bone health is one of those things you cannot see until it is too late. I offered to pay for the scan out of pocket, just to be safe. She agreed to place the order, and I am grateful she did because the scan showed I had osteopenia, a condition where bone density is lower than normal but not yet at the point of osteoporosis. When I looked at the risk factors, I could check nearly every box. Being Asian, getting little sun, eating very little dairy, and having done minimal weight-bearing exercise in my teenage years all put me in a higher risk category. The scan was my wake-up call. That diagnosis pushed me to start weight training in earnest. I had been working out for years, but mostly ca

A couple of years ago, a friend suggested I get a DEXA scan. My doctor, also an Asian woman, reassured me it was unnecessary, given it was not within the guidelines for screening at my age. I hesitated. Maybe she was right. But I also thought back to what osteoporosis did to my mother-in-law and mom. Bone health is one of those things you cannot see until it is too late. I offered to pay for the scan out of pocket, just to be safe. She agreed to place the order, and I am grateful she did because the scan showed I had osteopenia, a condition where bone density is lower than normal but not yet a