An accident while playing sports, driving, or a fall in your bathroom can impact your bones. Sometimes, you might experience minor injuries such as dislocation. Other times, the bone might fracture.
If you or a loved one has suffered a broken bone or a closed or simple fracture, visit Alamo City Urgent Care for fast, effective treatment.
Understanding Broken Bones
Can you go to an urgent care for broken bones? In many cases, yes.
Urgent care offers high-quality services for simple or closed bone fractures in which the skin is still intact. Open or compound fractures are more severe and require treatment or surgery in a hospital or emergency room. These types of fractures are serious and can lead to infection, tissue damage, and healing complications because the bone has broken the skin.
Other than accidents, a broken bone might result from medical conditions that weaken bones, such as bone cancer, osteoporosis, and osteogenesis. Osteogenesis is a genetic condition that causes the bones to weaken.
If the fracture results from a medical condition, it is known as a pathological fracture. You can seek urgent care for broken bones relating to medical conditions, but they often require ongoing management and coordination with specialists to address the underlying cause of the fracture.
What Is a Bone Fracture?
“Break” is not common among medical professionals, especially orthopedics. Instead, they use “crack” to refer to a bone fracture.
A bone fracture is a medical term used for a break, crack, or split in a bone. It can occur in any part of the body, including the skull.
Depending on the severity of impact or health condition, a bone fracture can be closed (simple) or open (compound).
What Is a Compound Fracture?
If the fracture damages the surrounding tissue, it is called a compound fracture. A compound fracture is more dangerous than a closed fracture and increases your risk of infection.
If you or a loved one suffers a compound fracture, one in which the bone has pierced through the skin, you should visit an emergency room near you for proper treatment.
Types of Bone Fractures
There are several types of bone fractures, including:
- Avulsion fracture—Occurs when a ligament or muscle pulls on the bone, fracturing it.
- Comminuted fracture—Occurs when your bone is shattered into many pieces.
- Compression fracture—Occurs on the spongy bone of the spine, mainly due to osteoporosis.
- Dislocation—Occurs when the joint is dislocated, causing a fracture.
- Green-stick fracture—Characterized by the bone getting fractured on one side without causing the bone to break since the rest of it can bend.
- Hairline fracture—A partial fracture on the bone that can sometimes be difficult to detect through X-rays.
- Impacted fracture—Occurs when a part of the bone gets fractured and gets in another part.
- Intraarticular fracture—Characterized by a bone break that extends to the surface of the joint.
- Oblique fracture—A fracture that is diagonal to the bone’s long axis.
- Longitudinal fracture—Occurs along the long axis of the bone.
- Pathological fracture—Occurs due to a medical condition such as osteoporosis or osteogenesis.
- Spiral fracture—Occurs when one part of the bone is twisted.
- Stress fracture—Common among athletes and is caused by repeated strains or stress on the bone or joint.
- Transverse fracture—A straight break across the bone.
- Torus fracture—Occurs when the bone gets deformed without breaking, especially among children.
Broken Bone Symptoms
Some of the signs and symptoms of a broken bone include:
- Pain
- Swelling
- Bruising at the site of fracturing
- Discolored skin on the site of injury
- The affected area might have an unusual angle
- The patient might experience difficulties putting weight on the affected area
- A grating sensation on the affected area
- Difficulties moving the affected area
- Bleeding if the fracture is open
In case the fracture affects a large area, the patient might have one or more of the following symptoms:
- Look pale and clammy
- Dizziness
- Nausea or a feeling of sickness
If the patient has difficulties moving to the nearest healthcare facility, you should consider contacting paramedics for emergency care services. Alternatively, you can perform first aid if you have any skills and apply a splint when necessary.
Whether you’ve suffered a sprain or a minor fracture, Alamo City Urgent Care provides effective minor injuries treatment to help you get back on track quickly. If the fracture is left untreated, you might be at risk of developing infections or the need for amputation.
Does Urgent Care Do X-Rays for Broken Bones?
All Alamo City Urgent Care centers offer state-of-the-art X-ray and imaging services to help diagnose and treat broken bones.
Our experienced urgent care team can quickly assess and interpret the extent of your broken bone using our advanced, onsite X-ray and imaging equipment, ensuring you get the expert treatment you need without delay.
We understand accidents don’t always happen during your doctor’s regular business hours. Don’t worry, we’re open late—until 9 p.m.—Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays so you can get fast, efficient, and compassionate urgent care for broken bones near you. Walk-ins are always welcome.
Broken Bone Treatment Options
If you have a fracture or broken bone, your urgent care doctor will begin with a physical exam. Depending on the severity of your broken bone, they may also perform certain imaging tests, like X-rays. These tests help your provider understand the complete picture of the damage to your bones, allowing them to provide proper treatment.
Since bone healing is a natural process, our treatments aim to improve the function and mobility of the site of injury and often include splints, casts, or slings. These tools are tailored based on the fracture type and severity.
If you have a severely broken bone or compound fracture, we may also recommend fracture reduction. This procedure must be performed at a hospital or emergency room.
Fracture reduction is a key step in treating compound fractures and involves surgery to realign displaced bone fragments and ligaments.
Seeking Urgent Care for Broken Bones? Visit Alamo City Urgent Care
Visit Alamo City Urgent Care if you need urgent care services for broken bones or other sports-related injuries in San Antonio, TX.
For faster urgent care treatment, you can book ahead to save time or simply walk in.
