No matter how healthy you and your family are, medical issues are bound to pop up at some point. You might trip on your way in from a grocery run and sprain your ankle, your child might break a bone during a park playdate, or your young athlete might dislocate their shoulder during a weekend tournament.
When you find yourself in these situations (and all too often outside of your regular doctor’s office hours), it isn’t always easy to make a snap decision about where to go for care.
Our team at Somers Orthopaedic Surgery wants to eliminate the guesswork surrounding sudden emergency health issues and help you understand the difference between urgent care and the emergency room.
The primary difference between urgent care and the emergency room is the level and type of care you receive.
The emergency room is open all hours of the day and night and is equipped to handle the most complex and critical medical problems, from heart attacks and strokes to car accidents and traumatic injuries.
Urgent care, on the other hand, is designed to fill in the gaps in your healthcare. When your regular doctor is unavailable to see you quickly, you can make an appointment with us, even if your injury occurs after hours.
Orthopaedic urgent care at Somers Orthopaedic Surgery covers a wide range of injuries from head to toe, including sprains, strains, dislocations, fractures, and bone and joint infections.
Our urgent care patients have arrived with the following:
We recommend orthopaedic urgent care when you have an injury you’d typically take to your primary care provider without specialized orthopaedic experience.
In short, if your injury is painful and needs medical attention but is not life- or limb-threatening, you should feel comfortable having it examined by our urgent care specialists.
It’s time to get immediate emergency medical attention if you or a family member experiences any of the following:
We always recommend that you trust your gut. If your intuition tells you the injury is severe, go directly to your nearest emergency room.
Sudden problems that affect your bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, and/or muscles aren’t usually problems that resolve themselves. It’s always better to be safe than sorry and get an expert’s opinion.
When you arrive, we carefully examine the injured area to make an accurate diagnosis using our advanced, on-site imaging technology.
Once we understand the extent of your injury, we create a treatment plan to help you heal and recover as quickly as possible. Your treatment plan may include physical therapy, over-the-counter pain or anti-inflammatory medication, steroid injections, electrical stimulation, and other noninvasive treatments. We also offer platelet-rich plasma (PRP) or stem cell therapy.
If conservative and minimally invasive approaches don’t work, we may recommend surgery to address your injury. Our surgeons are highly trained in the most advanced and least invasive surgical techniques to allow for maximum healing and minimal damage.
If you’re experiencing an emergency, please seek immediate medical attention. But if you aren’t in a life-threatening situation, call or click to see one of our urgent care specialists immediately.
