Should You Go to an Urgent Care for Neck Pain
The short answer is yes, but it depends on where your pain is. Most neck injuries are not life-threatening, but they do cause debilitating pain that can hamper daily activities. That’s why it’s important to recognize symptoms of potentially serious injuries, such as a herniated disc or spinal stenosis, and receive prompt treatment in order to avoid long-term complications. Here’s a breakdown of when you should go to an urgent care for neck pain.
Neck pain is a common medical condition, especially among older adults. If you’re looking for treatment, should you go to urgent care or your primary care doctor? Although most people probably don’t associate urgent care with treating neck pain, it’s often necessary to seek treatment for specific types of back and neck injuries. For example, serious neck injuries like spine fractures are typically beyond an urgent care center’s scope of practice, but there are many other situations where they can help.
First, an Urgent Care is best suited for treatment of urgent medical conditions. These are situations that are deemed to be severe enough that they should be addressed as soon as possible, but not severe enough to warrant immediate attention from an emergency room physician. A few examples of common cases treated at urgent care clinics include minor injuries, fractures and sprains, infections and respiratory illnesses. In most cases, an urgent care clinic is more convenient than a doctor’s office or hospital emergency room because it’s open on evenings and weekends when other facilities are typically closed. It also doesn’t require appointments or overnight stays like a hospital does.
There are many ways to seek medical attention when you’re in pain. Unfortunately, a trip to your doctor’s office for treatment is usually out of reach for those without a high-deductible health plan or without insurance at all. For example, an MRI that costs $800 might be charged at $3,000 in some instances. Luckily, there are alternatives to visiting your primary care physician (PCP) for care. One option is a walk-in medical center known as urgent care. They’re designed to treat minor ailments and provide immediate help so that patients don’t have to rush off to their primary care physician or spend more money on an ER visit.
