Urgent Care Is the Right Choice for Sports Injury Recovery
A sports injury typically falls into one of two categories – overuse and acute. For example, tennis elbow is an overuse injury but a sprained ankle is acute. Regardless of what type of sports ailment plagues you, injury recovery requires proper treatment. Going from a game to the emergency room can mean long waits and lots of hassle. That is why urgent care centers are the ideal platform for treatment and sports rehabilitation.
As a rule, pay attention to what your body is telling you when active in sports. Exercise comes with its own set of aches and pains, but discomfort that happens every time you play is worth checking out. A doctor can make a proper diagnosis and prescribe the right injury recovery plan.
Pain is the body’s way of telling you something is wrong. The key is to know when it is significant enough to require treatment. Significant pain isn’t about intensity – even dull aches can indicate recurring injury in sports. During game play, sudden stabbing pain is an obvious symptom of an acute injury, but that deep nagging ache you get in your knee when running is much harder to interpret.
Treatment Options for a Sports Injury
Immediate treatment for a sports injury is the defense against long-term damage. Warning signs include aches in a joint, tenderness, swelling, stiffness, weakness, numbness and tingling. When experiencing any of these symptoms, keep in mind the R.I.C.E acronym.
• Rest
• Ice
• Compression
• Elevation
Apply ice and a compression bandage immediately to help reduce the pain and swelling. Keep the injured area elevated if possible, as well. Immediate rest means step out of the game to lessen the chance of more extensive damage.
Our clinic takes urgent care to the next level for sports rehabilitation. It offers the comfort of an ER department and the convenience of an urgent care center. Treatment is your best option whether dealing with overuse or acute sports injury, and urgent care with us is the most effective way to get it.