If further treatment isn’t needed, an urgent care physician will prescribe medications for pain relief and make recommendations for at-home recovery. When an ankle sprain happens, it’s easy to wonder if urgent care is a better option than visiting your primary care physician.
Full Answer
Can I go to urgent care for a sprained ankle?
For anyone who has ever wondered, “Can I go to an Urgent Care for a Sprained Ankle?” the answer is yes. FastMed Urgent Care offers treatment for many acute injuries and accepts Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC), one of the largest insurance networks in the U.S. Choose FastMed Urgent Care to Treat Your Sprained Ankle:
What are the treatment options for a Grade I ankle sprain?
A grade I sprain, stretching without tearing of the ligament or without instability of the joint, can be fitted with an ankle stirrup-type splint. The patient can be given crutches, be given instructions on their use, and be prescribed a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent, such as ibuprofen, 200 to 800 mg every 6 hours.
Why should I go to urgent care for a sprain?
Following are five reasons you should visit Rose Urgent Care & Family Practice if you think you have a sprain: 1. You can’t afford to make a mistake. If you’re an athlete or need to walk, run, or use your injured foot, leg, hand, or arm for your job, getting checked out at Urgent Care guarantees you get the care you need right away.
How is a syndesmotic sprain evaluated in urgent care?
Evaluation and Management of Ankle Injuries in Urgent Care. Testing for this type of sprain or fracture includes the squeeze test and the external rotation test. One or both of these tests will elicit pain from a patient with a syndesmotic sprain. An x-ray will also be needed to rule out a fracture.
What care should be given to a patient with a suspected sprain injury?
AdvertisementRest the injured limb. Your doctor may recommend not putting any weight on the injured area for 48 to 72 hours, so you may need to use crutches. ... Ice the area. ... Compress the area with an elastic wrap or bandage. ... Elevate the injured limb above your heart whenever possible to help prevent or limit swelling.
When should you go to urgent care for a swollen ankle?
Go to urgent care if your pain level and swelling is significant and you have difficulty walking, to the point that you need assistance, due to the pain. Go to the emergency room if your foot is bruised, deformed, or you are unable to walk at all. You may have a fracture, broken bone or serious ligament damage.
What is the care for a sprained ankle?
Avoid activities that cause pain, swelling or discomfort. Ice. Use an ice pack or ice slush bath immediately for 15 to 20 minutes and repeat every two to three hours while you're awake. If you have vascular disease, diabetes or decreased sensation, talk with your doctor before applying ice.
Which method is used for immediate treatment of sprains?
For immediate self-care of a sprain, try the R.I.C.E. approach — rest, ice, compression, elevation: Rest. Avoid activities that cause pain, swelling or discomfort.
Should I go to urgent care for sprained wrist?
In many circumstances, sprains, strains, fractures, and broken bones can be treated by urgent care medical staff — particularly if they are in the hand, foot, ankle, or wrist. As you may know, the benefits of urgent care clinics include the ability to take X-rays and even set a cast.
When should you go to the ER for a sprained ankle?
Go to the emergency room if: there is immediate bruising on the foot, significant deformity, or you are unable to walk or put any pressure on the affected ankle as it could be a fracture or broken bone.
What do you do for a sprained foot?
Symptom ReliefRest. Stop any physical activity that causes pain, and keep your foot still when possible.Ice your foot for 20 minutes 2 to 3 times a day. Do not apply ice directly to your skin.Keep your foot raised to help keep swelling down.Take pain medicine if you need it.
How do you treat a sprained ankle in a child?
Care at homeRest: rest the injured area and avoid activities that cause a lot of pain. ... Ice: apply ice to the injured area for 10–15 minutes. ... Compression: use a firm bandage that is not too tight and does not stop circulation or cause extra pain. ... Elevation: raise the ankle whenever possible to help reduce the swelling.
How do you treat a Grade 2 ankle sprain?
For a Grade 2 sprain, a removable plastic device, such as a walking boot or aircast brace, can provide support. Grade 3 sprains may require a short leg cast or cast-brace for 10 to 14 days. In most cases, swelling and pain will last 2 to 3 days.
What is sprain and how it can be managed?
A sprain is a stretching or tearing of ligaments — the tough bands of fibrous tissue that connect two bones together in your joints. The most common location for a sprain is in your ankle. Initial treatment includes rest, ice, compression and elevation. Mild sprains can be successfully treated at home.
Which of the following home treatment is appropriate for sprain?
Ice: Apply cold to the ankle several times a day to help reduce pain and swelling. Compression: Apply a static or elastic compression bandage to help limit swelling. Elevation: Reduce the flow of blood and other fluids to the injury site by elevating the ankle above the heart.
How does a physical therapist help a sprain?
Your physical therapist helps you stretch and strengthen your ligaments, evaluates and modifies your movements to minimize the risk of re-injury, and helps you learn to use assistive devices, when needed. 5. You don’t get better. A few days of the RICE protocol should help your sprain feel better and improve mobility.
How long does it take for a sprain to heal?
Simple sprains usually heal on their own within a few days and shouldn’t interfere with your daily activities ...
What happens if you sprain your wrist?
If you tend to sprain your ankles, wrist, or other body parts, your ligaments could be weak, as could the surrounding tendons and muscles. Spraining the same part over and over stresses the joint and can lead to arthritis, loose joints, and tendon damage.
What happens if you move your elbow after a sprain?
After a sprain, you may notice that your knee pops or your elbow cracks when you move it. These are signs that you may have a severe sprain and that the ligaments are no longer holding your joint in place.
What to do when your ligament is torn?
When your ligament has completely torn or detached, you need to give your joint support so that it can function without becoming damaged or causing arthritis. Compression bandages, braces, splints, or crutches help keep your joints stable and increase your mobility without worsening your injury. 4.
How to reduce swelling in a swollen thigh?
Icing — applying a wrapped ice pack to the injury for no more than 20 minutes per hour for the first 48 hours. Compression — wearing an ACE bandage or other compression device to stabilize the joint and minimize swelling. Elevation — raising the area above your waist to reduce swelling and bruising.
How long should you be out of sports after a sprain?
Our doctors usually recommend refraining from sports, running, and other high-impact activities for at least four to eight weeks.
What is a grade 1 ankle sprain?
Differential diagnoses include sprain, fracture, and dislocation. Grading. Grading of ankle sprains focuses on the degree of ligament damage. A grade I sprain, stretching without tearing of the ligament or without instability of the joint, can be fitted with an ankle stirrup-type splint.
What is clinical knowledge of ankle injuries?
Clinical knowledge of ankle injuries is usually limited in practitioners’ training. Therefore, urgent care providers must become familiar with what laboratory tests must be ordered, what examination techniques to use, and how to interpret test results. Pathophysiology.
How long does it take to heal a sprained ankle?
Resting time depends on the grade of the injury and can vary from 5 days for lower-grade to up to 6 weeks for severe tears or grade III sprains . Fifth Metatarsal Fracture.
How to examine ankles?
Examination of the ankle should be done with the patient standing, walking, and then sitting. First have the patient stand, so that you can examine the ankle in the “normal” position. Inspect the ankles and feet and then compare the injured joint with the noninjured joint, looking for symmetry.
Which ligaments support the medial part of the ankle?
The deltoid ligaments support the medial part of the ankle. Four ligaments make up the deltoid ligament and form a triangle in the medial portion of the ankle. An injury to the medial part of the ankle is usually associated with a fracture ( Figure 1 ). The talofibular ligaments support the lateral part of the ankle.
How long does it take for ankles to heal?
Encourage follow-up with a primary-care provider if healing has not begun in 5 to 7 days. Although the majority of ankle injuries that are seen in urgent care centers are minor and can be treated on an outpatient basis, keep in mind situations that call for referral for further evaluation.
How long does it take to return to primary care after a sprain?
The patient can return to their primary-care provider in about 2 weeks for further follow-up if needed. Once the patient can ambulate without pain and range-of-motion exercises do not cause pain, the patient can then begin strengthening the muscles surrounding the joint.
What is a sprain?
Sprains. Sprains are bound to happen at one point or the other given they concern joints, which given that they are hugely responsible for locomotion and movement, receive a lot of strain.
Should you go to the emergency room for a sprain?
On the other hand, severe sprains of the extremities, that is the hand, foot, ankle or wrist, should be taken to the emergency room and not urgent care as most of these usually involve not only sprains but fractures and breaks as well.
Do you need an X-ray for a hand sprain?
This include sprains on the hand, foot, ankle or wrist. This is because these sprains most of the time only require an X-ray to diagnose, facilities that are available in most urgent care clinics, as per the experts over at frontlineer.com. Physicians in urgent care clinics will also be in a position to set a cast or a compression bandage, ...
Can you get a sprain repaired at an urgent care?
Serious sprains may also require surgery to fix the ligaments, something that can happen at an emergency room but definitely not at an urgent care clinic. While urgent care clinics have X-rays for diagnosis, if one needs to find out if the damage to the ligament is partial or there is a complete tear, magnetic resonance imaging is required, ...
Can you go to an urgent care clinic for a sprain?
One thing that is clear, mild to moderate sprains to the extremities can be comfortably handled at an urgent care clinic and as such it is recommended that you head over there if this is what you are experiencing. On the other hand, severe sprains of the extremities, that is the hand, foot, ankle or wrist, should be taken to ...