Certain prophylactic treatments during menopause should be, to some extent, considered universal. For example, every woman should be advised, and often treated, in attempts to prevent postmenopausal bone loss, heart disease, or breast cancer. However, once again, it would be a mistake to put everybody over the same barrel and to offer to all of them exactly the same advice and treatments.

Risks, of course vary! Not every woman has the same risk towards bone loss, atherosclerotic heart disease or breast cancer. Ethnicity matter; so does family history and, of course, personal medical history. It matters how much a woman weighs, what she eats, whether she smokes and whether she exercises regularly, or not. In other words, the motto, once again, has to be individualization of care!

Depending on risk factors, the treatment approaches towards prophylaxis will vary. Most importantly, however, at MRI, they always will be holistic in nature.

There are, of course, now many medications available to prevent bone loss, and even to induce new bone formation. MRI makes extensive use of all of these medications. However, to do so, without concomitantly strengthening these bones through exercise, would be self-defeating. Therefore, if women do not already regularly exercise, they will be referred to an “affiliate” (for details see the section on Affiliates) to enter an appropriate exercise program.

In short, individualization, individualization, individualization!!!! There is simply no replacement for this motto at MRI. Yet, this individualization will, in an attempt to maximize overall quality of life, always occur within a holistic framework which considers the individual as a whole.