When Stephen Scudder found out he had a potentially serious condition, he and his wife, Joanne, weren't sure how they were going to explain it to people. After all, Stephen is extremely fit and active, with a job in construction that involves scrambling up ladders and hoisting sheets of plywood and other heavy objects by himself.

"How could he have osteoporosis? Wasn't that something just menopausal women got?" they could hear people asking.

In November 2007, they took the four-hour drive over snowy mountain passes from their home in Lake City, Colorado, to a Life Line Screening event in Telluride. Joanne was particularly interested in the screenings, but "on a lark," Stephen figured if he was going along for the ride, he might as well get checked out, too.

"It's just a simple heel screening, which is no problem at all - you just stick your heel into the test unit there, and they send back the results," he says, recalling the osteoporosis check. But when they got the results, which showed that Stephen had low bone density, they couldn't believe the news. So they went to his doctor. "Even the doctor at first said there's no way you have osteoporosis, as active as you are," he recalls. So Stephen had another scan, and sure enough, the 58-year-old's spine and hip showed that he had severe bone loss.

Stephen doesn't consume much dairy - an important source of calcium - and medical tests showed that his vitamin D levels were low (vitamin D works hand-in-hand with calcium for strong bones). So Stephen, under doctor's supervision, went on a temporary high-dose course of vitamin D, and now takes supplemental calcium daily.

He'll have his bone density checked again this November. If he needs a success story to imitate, Joanne can surely inspire him: She was diagnosed with osteoporosis 10 years ago, and after lots of walking and lots of calcium supplements, her doctor recently broke the good news to her that her bones were back in the normal range.

As the Scudders know - and tell others - bone loss is a silent problem that can do a lot of damage without causing any symptoms. "I've told quite a few people, 'If you have an opportunity to go get a screening, do it.' I didn’t think I had any problems, and I was happy to find out I did so we could take care of it now," Stephen says.

Learn more about osteoporosis screening.