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A testimonial: In 2001, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis from a bone density scan. I had 30% bone loss, which was unusual for my age, so the doctors were very concerned. They prescribed a regimen of hormones, Fossamax, calcium supplements, and weight-bearing exercise. Just as I was about to fill the hormone prescription, the study linking hormone replacement therapy to cancer came out, so I never started that. The Fossamax I took intermittently for a while and then stopped, because (A) I didn’t trust it, or feel it had been adequately tested, and (B) It cost $76 for 4 pills a month. I’ve been taking the calcium, but confess to being a little lax about it. The one thing I have done religiously, especially in the two years since I joined the Mill Valley Health Club, has been to exercise, both aerobic and weight-bearing, 3 or 4 times a week in a regime programmed for me by your trainer, Azzidine, when I first joined. I was so afraid to be retested and learn more bad news that I put off my follow-up bone density scan way too long. But last month I finally got up the courage to take it, and got surprisingly good news: My osteoporosis has receded so that it is no longer the diagnosis. My bone loss has significantly reversed, after six years. And besides some calcium supplementation (which some studies are now showing may not even help) the only thing I’ve been doing regularly is exercising–at the Mill Valley Health Club. I’ve tried various gyms and fitness centers, some a little cheaper, but find the Mill Valley Health Club to be perfect for me. It’s quiet, it’s private, the equipment is excellent—I particularly love the Keyser machines which I haven’t found anywhere else, and which are a significant part of my upper body weight-bearing workout–and the trainers are helpful but unobtrusive. The classes and teachers are great, and very diverse. I can’t rave about it enough. Having a serious diagnosis is a great motivator to exercise, and having the right place to do it is the other great motivator. I am so grateful to the Mill Valley Health Club for playing such a key role in my health and well-being. And by the way—this is a truly unsolicited testimonial.

—Rita Abrams