Common questions
What is FRAX and how is it different from this check?
FRAX® is a validated tool that estimates your 10-year probability of a major fracture from your specific risk factors (and often a bone-density result). This page is only an educational risk-factor checklist — it doesn't calculate a FRAX score. A clinician can run the real assessment.
When should a woman get a bone density (DEXA) scan?
Guidelines commonly suggest DEXA screening for women at 65, or earlier for postmenopausal women with risk factors such as a prior fragility fracture, low body weight, long-term steroid use, or a parent who broke a hip. Your clinician decides based on your profile.
Does hormone therapy protect bone?
Substantially. Estrogen reduces fracture risk across the skeleton, and it is the only menopause treatment that does so while also treating vasomotor symptoms. The protection lasts while you take it and fades after stopping, so bone is one reason the stop-or-continue decision is not purely about symptoms.
Can you rebuild bone after menopause, or only slow the loss?
Both are possible, but by different routes. Weight-bearing and resistance exercise, adequate protein, calcium and vitamin D slow loss. Anabolic drugs such as teriparatide and romosozumab actually build bone and are reserved for high fracture risk. Most treatments sit in between.
How much calcium and vitamin D do women over 50 need?
General guidance is around 1,200 mg of calcium and 800 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily, counting food first — supplements are for closing a gap, not replacing diet. Higher calcium doses do not add benefit and calcium supplements have their own cardiovascular debate attached.