5 Conditions That Warrant a Trip to Orthopaedic Urgent Care For
You’ve probably been in this situation before: You hurt your knee, and you’re trying to figure out the best course of action, so you assess your pain level and your other symptoms to decide what to do next. The typical list of options looks like this:
- Stay home, ice it, and take the wait-and-see approach
- Make a regular appointment with your family physician next week
- Go to your local walk-in clinic
- Take a trip to the ER
There’s one important option that isn’t on that list, but should be — orthopaedic urgent care.
And if you live in the Danbury area including Putnam County/New York, you have access to Somers Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine Group offices, with a built-in orthopaedic urgent care facility at our Danbury location and our extensive team of highly experienced specialists.
What types of injuries warrant a trip to an orthopaedic urgent care?
Any injury that affects your joints, muscles, bones, ligaments, or tendons falls under our area of expertise. Here are the five most common types of injuries we see at our orthopaedic urgent care facilities.
1. Sprains
Ligaments are the strong bands of fibrous tissue that attach your bones to one another inside your joints. A sudden twist, a fall, or a high-impact car crash can put enough force on your joint to stretch your ligament and tear the fibers. This is called a sprain.
Sprains are classified into three grades depending on their severity:
- Grade 1: a partial ligament tear; you can still use the joint
- Grade 2: an incomplete tear; limited joint mobility and moderate pain
- Grade 3: a complete tear; severe pain and loss of function
Grade 2 and 3 sprains warrant a trip to orthopaedic urgent care.
2. Strains
A strain is similar to a sprain in that it involves stretched and torn tissues, but sprains affect tendons and muscles. A strain typically heals on its own, but if the pain persists, hinders your ability to carry out everyday tasks, keeps you up at night, looks deformed, or is accompanied by audible clicking or popping sounds, come see us.
3. Joint dislocations
If you fall off your bike, get in an auto accident, or get tackled in a football game, the force can easily knock your bones out of place within your joint. The most commonly dislocated joints are shoulders, but dislocations can affect any joint, such as those in your fingers, elbows, or knee.
You may have only partially dislocated the joint, which is called a subluxation, or you may have completely knocked it out of its socket. Depending on the severity, we may need to manipulate your bones to return them to their proper position.
If the dislocation damages the surrounding tissues and/or it won’t respond to other treatments, we may discuss surgery to repair it.
4. Fractures
All fractures require orthopaedic care.
If you leave your broken bone to its own devices, there are two possibilities for suboptimal outcomes:
- It won’t heal at all, which means your pain can worsen, and you may face future complications.
- The union will be delayed and take longer to heal than it should.
Seeking treatment at our orthopaedic urgent care ensures your bone will be properly set, your tissues get adequate blood supply, and your bones will be strong and stable when they heal.
5. Bone or joint infections
Just like the rest of your body, your bones and joints are vulnerable to pathogens such as bacteria and viruses that can infect them. Here are two of the most common types of bone and joint infections.
Osteomyelitis
When you have an infection somewhere else in your body — say, your lungs or your bladder — that infection can travel to your bones. This is called osteomyelitis, and it usually causes symptoms such as fever, pain, and redness. It’s often caused by bacteria introduced during surgery or injection.
Septic arthritis
All arthritis causes inflammation in your joints, but septic arthritis stems from a fungal or bacterial infection. Like osteomyelitis, you may notice swelling, pain, and fever. If you don’t get it treated quickly, it can damage the cartilage permanently.
Add orthopaedic urgent care to your contacts
Musculoskeletal injuries are common. Do yourself and your family a favor, and add Somers Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine Group to your contacts list, so you’ll have our number handy when you need us.
If you need orthopaedic urgent care, come see us at our Danbury location.
To make a regular appointment, call us at any of our five locations in Carmel, Newburgh, Mt. Kisco, and Fishkill in New York, or Danbury, CT, or request an appointment online.