Sacred Heart Hospital's SENIORSpirit! program will present a free seminar entitled "Vertebral Compression Fractures: Symptoms and Treatment" on Thursday, Nov. 6 from 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. at Orange Beach Senior Center, 26251 Canal Road Ave., in Orange Beach, Ala.
The seminar will be presented by Dr. Michael L. Goodman, a board-certified neurosurgeon with Sacred Heart Medical Group. The seminar will help attendees understand the signs and symptoms of vertebral compression fractures, as well as treatment options.
A vertebral compression fracture occurs when the bones of the spine become broken due to trauma. While in many cases the trauma necessary to break the bones of the spine is quite large, some compression fractures can occur with little or no force. This type of fracture is common in elderly people, people with osteoporosis, and people with cancer. The vertebrae most commonly broken are those in the lower back.
Before joining Sacred Heart, Dr. Goodman most recently served as chief of neurosurgery at Forrest General Hospital and at the Hattiesburg Clinic. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1981 and performed his internship in surgery at Duke University Medical Center. He then completed six years of residency training and fellowship training in neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
He has advanced training in radiosurgery and stereotactic neurosurgery. Dr. Goodman was the first radiosurgery fellow at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988. He previously served as an attending neurosurgeon at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, where he started the fourth gamma knife center in the United States (and only the seventh in the world at that time).
As seating is limited, pre-registration is encouraged. To register, please call (850) 416-1620 or 1-877-416-1620.
Sacred Heart SENIORSpirit! is a free program for persons 55 and older. Benefits include free screenings, seminars, special in-patient benefits such as three free guest meal tickets (up to $5) per hospital stay, a monthly calendar of events detailing all SENIORSpirit! events, a discounted pre-paid lab coupon program, and a quarterly newsletter containing health and event information.
For more information, please call (850) 416-7000 or visit www.sacred-heart.org.
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