Dr. James Flowers
Spring is in full bloom, and summer right on its heels. Sports and exercise enthusiasts of all ages are moving their activities to the outdoors. From tennis to golf, lacrosse to basketball to running, all sports and recreational activities have the potential for injury.
While urgent care centers continue to be a great resource in treating infection, flu, and colds, they can also be your partner in sports injuries. Falls, muscle strain or sprains, cuts, and the like are sports injuries that can be managed by a visit to an urgent care center. These centers have office hours in the evenings and on weekends, so there is no need to suffer through a night or weekend before getting relief. And, most urgent care centers are equipped with X-ray capabilities to determine the severity of strains, sprains, or potential breaks. Splinting and crutches can also be provided, with a recommendation to follow-up with an orthopaedic doctor.
Beyond sports injuries, outdoor activities can leave you vulnerable to bug bites, poison ivy, and sunburn. These types of inconvenient health issues can also be easily treated at an urgent care center.
Urgent care staff can manage asthma flare-ups caused by exertion and provide nebulizer treatments for relief. Urgent care staff can also diagnose and treat minor head injuries. But, if there has been loss of consciousness or chest pain, an Emergency Department is the place to be.
While urgent care centers are not a replacement for the relationship you have with your primary care physician, there is no need to wait for care and comfort should an injury or health issue arise. By choosing an urgent care center over a visit to a hospital emergency room for these minor injuries, you are also enabling emergency department staff to focus on more serious and life-threatening crisis situations.
So get outdoors, be safe, and remember urgent care centers are a great alternative to an emergency room visit to treat minor injuries or illness, no matter what the season or cause.
James J. Flowers, DO, MBA, FACOEP, FACEP, is an Emergency Room Physician at Cooper University Health Care. To learn more about our Urgent Care Centers, click here.