Can I Visit Urgent Care for a Fracture?

If you have a bone fracture, you may be wondering if you should go to the emergency room, regular doctor or an urgent care center. This is a serious injury that commonly happens due to falls, car accidents, sports, osteoporosis, cancer, trauma, tumors or disease. Ignoring a bone fracture can lead to an infection in the bone, nerve damage and damage to muscles and ligaments.

Can an urgent care clinic treat a fracture?

Yes. If you have a fractured bone, you should get professional treatment as soon as possible. If the pain is severe, you should head to the nearest urgent care center. Because your adrenaline may be numbing the pain, you may not know how severe the damage is to your bone. Having a medical professional assess your injury is the best move.

Types of fractures

The most common types of fractures include:

Stable fracture

This is also known as a simple fracture and is the most common type of fracture the medical professionals at urgent care facilities treat. When this fracture occurs, your bone breaks into two pieces.

Hairline fracture

This is also known as a partial fracture. These injuries do not result in bone separation or complete breaks.

Closed fracture

When this occurs, your bone will break, but the skin surrounding the bone remains intact. You will feel the pain, but the damage may not be noticeable.

Stress fracture

This is usually caused by repetitive motion, which leads to cracks forming in the bone. This is a common injury for runners or hikers who overwork their legs.

Greenstick fracture

This is more common in children and occurs when the bone bends and breaks on only one side.

Compound fractures

This occurs when the skin breaks along with the bone. You will typically see a piece of bone protruding from the skin.

Fracture symptoms

You can tell you have a fracture if you have the following signs:

• Excruciating pain
• Swelling
• Bruising
• Tenderness
• Bone visibly out of place
• Discoloration
• Stiffness
• Bleeding
• Limited motion
• Inability to place weight on the affected area

Treating fractures

Even if the pain is very mild, all fractures require medical attention to make sure your bone heals properly. Physicians at urgent care centers will diagnose the break by ordering X-rays and conducting a physical examination. The X-ray is used to determine the type of fracture and the severity.

In most cases, physicians will use a fiberglass splint to hold the bone in place and reduce swelling. They will then use a cast or brace, which you have to wear for a few weeks to make sure the bone heals properly.

If you have a high amount of pain, the urgent care physician might give you some pain medication to help make it more bearable.

Children who participate in sports are likely to deal with incomplete fractures because they have softer bones than adults. Even though the treatment options are similar to the options available to adults, the pain medication they are given should be used with caution.

Skip a Trip to the Emergency Room

Bone fractures can be quite painful. Instead of driving to the hospital and sitting in a busy emergency room, visit our urgent care center. We welcome walk-in patients who need prompt medical care.

Call us today at (703) 743-7849 for more information from Millennium Medical Care Herndon.

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