When to go to urgent care: Sprains and strains
Sprains and strains are amongst the most common musculoskeletal injuries that people suffer out there. As per the gurus over at frontlineer.com, although these two injuries can have similar symptoms, they are actually quite different. A sprain occurs when one stretches or tears a ligament while a strain occurs when one stretches or tears muscles or tendons. As per discussions on the same over at the excellent frontlineer.com, sprains can occur anywhere in the body where you can find ligaments such as the knees, ankles, wrist among others. As for strains, large muscle tissue like the hamstrings are the most commonly injured. If you participate in sports, then you know that these two injuries are pretty common, as they usually occur due to rapid shifts in movement. Sprains and strains vary in severity from mild to moderate and finally to severe. Mild injuries here involve the stretching or slight tearing of ligaments, muscles or tendons while severe injuries involve the complete tearing or rupturing of the same. It is therefore important to know when you can handle such injuries at home with the R.I.C.E technique, that is, rest, ice, compression and elevation of the injured part, and when to go to urgent care for the same. This article, with the help of the gurus over at frontlineer.com, will look to help by highlighting when you should go to urgent care for sprains and strains.
One of the instances when you should go to urgent care for sprains and strains is if you are experiencing pain and swelling and are unable to fully use or put weight on the affected body part. As explained in detail over at the excellent frontlineer.com, if it is a sprained ankle, then if you are unable to walk without assistance and are experiencing pain and swelling, then you should get checked out at urgent care. You should also do the same for a sprained knee, where if you are having trouble putting weight or can’t walk without assistance, then you should go to urgent care and get checked out. When it comes to hamstrings, if you are unable to walk without pain, then you should also head over to urgent care and get checked out. Keep in mind that, if you continue putting stress on an already injured hamstring, you may suffer a more severe tear and therefore always go get checked out if you are experiencing pain, as per the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com.
Yet another reason to go to urgent care for sprains and strains is if you can’t walk more than four steps without experiencing significant pain. Such pain may be a sign of damage that needs to be checked out and as such you should go to your local urgent care facility to be attended to. If there is decreased movement on the affected joint where you notice a significant reduction in the range of motion, then as per the folks over at frontlineer.com, you should also go to urgent care to be checked out. If you suffer such injuries, always try and check if you can move the affected part, if not or if the range of motion is significantly reduced, you should seek medical attention. If you have suffered a sprain or a strain and you are experiencing pain and swelling that won’t ease up even with the R.I.C.E technique, then you should also go to urgent care and get checked out. Most of the time people tend to have such injuries handled at home, but if the pain and swelling are not going down or are even getting worse, even after applying the R.I.C.E technique and even taking over-the-counter pain meds, then as per the gurus over at frontlineer.com, you should go to urgent care to be evaluated.
For muscle pain, if you have had pain for more than a week, then you should also go to urgent care and be checked out. Most people will rarely seek medical help for muscle pain and tend to want to handle it at home. However, as per the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com, if your muscle pain persists for more than a week, then you should go to urgent care to be checked out. Keep an eye out also of signs of poor circulation on a sprained or strained body part. If you notice discoloration, or if the affected part is turning blue, then this could be a sign of poor circulation and you should head over to your local urgent care clinic to be assessed and attended to. As covered in detail over at frontlineer.com, if you have been experiencing severe and recurrent muscle pain, especially when you exercise, then you should also go to urgent care to be checked out. This could be a sign of overuse injuries, which are common as far as sprains and strains are concerned, and you should get yourself attended to.
Hopefully, this article will be of great help to you, and if you are looking for more information on this and other related topics, then you should head over to the highly rated frontlineer.com.
