Do you like sports? Do you love playing sports? If you do, you’re not alone. From high school athletes to college athletes to professionals to even the casual runners and rec-league players, millions of Americans love to participate in sports as a way to stay active.
As beneficial as sports can be, a sobering truth is that you can hurt. It’s estimated that roughly 3.5 million sports injuries happen every year as athletes look for relief for everything from chiropractic care to acute pain relief.
As athletes know there are any number of sports injuries that can happen suddenly and without warning. These ailments can include:
- Back pain
- Sprained ankles
- Shin splints
- Muscle Strains
- Concussions
- Runner’s knee
- Neck Pain
If you’re looking for a way to get treated for sports injuries, a good option is to visit an urgent care clinic in your area. Depending on the person and the severity of the injury, injuries and their effects can vary and without proper treatment, there can be long-term consequences.
Certainly, there are many benefits to visiting an urgent care for treatment; urgent cares are open later than ordinary doctor’s offices, they offer shorter wait times and they offer price transparency, so you can see what you’re paying for and how much before you pay for it. But before you go, here are a few things to keep in mind about when to visit an urgent care:
- Symptoms aren’t going away after rest and treatment at home
- Any risk to the athlete, their teammates and fellow competitors as a result of an injury
- Injuries that affect the way an athlete trains or performs
- Injuries that haven’t been properly diagnosed or treated
Before you visit an urgent care for treatment, you need to figure out how severe your injuries are. You need to determine whether your injuries are a result of overuse, are acute or are a result of certain illnesses or conditions. Knowing what you’ve got can help a doctor treat you more effectively.
Acute: injuries can include cuts, scrapes, sprains, strains, pinched nerves and bruises among other things. Acute injuries may accompany swelling, bruising, numbness or shooting pains. If any of these pains persist, they more than likely are disrupting your everyday movement and you need to see a doctor.
Overuse injuries may include stress fractures, shin splints, tendonitis, bursitis, nerve issues and fasciitis. Symptoms of overuse injuries can include swelling, pain that worsens with physical activity, popping in joints and grinding in joints. These injuries are more severe and can further restrict physical activity. An urgent care visit is necessary if rest and ice isn’t doing the trick and you notice that pain and swelling is getting worse.
Medical illnesses and conditions can include injuries and ailments like concussions, skin infections, fevers, abdominal pain, respiratory issues, heat injuries and cardiac issues. With issues such as these, you may see symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, severe pain, vomiting and diarrhea, fever, lightheadedness or passing out, fever, headaches and loss of appetite.
If any of these illness or conditions seem like they are persisting, an urgent care visit is necessary. With serious injuries like concussions, there’s no set timeline on recovery and an experienced healthcare professional can help put together a treatment plan to help you get better. Each person responds to certain kinds of injuries differently and a physician at an urgent care can offer personalized treatment to help you specifically.
Make no mistake: if you’re in severe, crippling pain or dealing with a horrific injury, get to the emergency room right away. There’s no need to roll the dice on your health when things are really bad. But for acute sports injuries as well as sports injuries from overuse, an urgent care visit can do wonders. It’s estimated that three million patients all over America visit urgent care facilities every week for a variety of treatments and if you’ve got a nagging sports injury, doctors at an urgent care can help you too.