An active lifestyle can easily result in an ankle sprain, a broken bone, or a hurting neck and shoulder. These injuries may prompt people to head to an emergency room (ER) to receive immediate medical care.
However, every ER has a triage system in which the severity and life-threatening nature of injuries are prioritized, so the worst-case patients are treated first. Therefore, a patient with an orthopedic injury may have to wait quite a while in the waiting area of the ER.
What Is Orthopedic Urgent Care?
All of that has now changed, thanks to the availability of orthopedic urgent care. Patients with musculoskeletal injuries that are non-life-threatening no longer have to head to a busy emergency room and endure long wait times.
You can now walk right into an orthopedic urgent care clinic and receive specialized medical attention by actual orthopedic specialists without the long wait. You’ll receive the specialized care you need for your injury from experts who are board-certified in orthopedic medicine.
And most importantly, faster treatment can help reduce future complications or improper healing of your injury.
Regular Urgent Care vs. Orthopedic Urgent Care vs. ER
Even if you are treated in an emergency room for an injury to your muscles, bones, or joints, you will then be referred to an orthopedic surgeon for further evaluation and follow-up treatment. Most orthopedists are already booked for days or weeks on end.
The risk here is that your injury could develop complications if not handled promptly by orthopedists who know what they are doing.
Moreover, if you go to a regular urgent care clinic that doesn’t specialize in orthopedic injuries, the general practitioners there will be unable to provide the specialized care that you need. They may not properly stabilize the injured part of your body, and they likely do not have the most state-of-the-art equipment.
This increases the likelihood of swelling, the progression of an injury, and infection. For example, severe knee pain after a fall that doesn’t respond to rest may become a permanent injury if not treated by an orthopedic specialist immediately.
And that’s where orthopedic urgent care comes in.
Orthopedic Urgent Care Clinic in the Tri-Cities, Tennessee
For orthopedic injuries that cannot wait – such as a child’s broken bone or a sports injury – visit your nearby Watauga Orthopaedics urgent care clinic right here in the Tri-Cities area. We have convenient locations in Johnson City and Kingsport.
Our comprehensive facilities are staffed with board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons who can tend to a wide variety of orthopedic injuries. We have the most advanced treatment methods and state-of-the-art equipment, and you do not even have to make an appointment beforehand.
If you have any questions about our orthopedic services, call us at (423) 282-9011 or, if you prefer, schedule an appointment with one of our outstanding physicians. We welcome same-day walk-in appointments, and we have extended hours to serve our patients – because injuries rarely happen during regular office hours. Just come on in!
