All Ortho, All the Time: Why Choose Our Orthopedic Urgent Care?

When unexpected orthopedic pain strikes, waiting for a hospital ER or general urgent care can mean long delays and increased exposure to illnesses. OrthoGeorgia’s specialized urgent care centers, located in Macon and Warner Robins, streamline treatment by focusing exclusively on musculoskeletal issues. With on-site imaging, expert orthopedic specialists, extended hours, and walk-in convenience, these clinics offer a quicker and safer alternative for managing fractures, sprains, and other orthopedic conditions.

In our blog, we love to provide helpful advice that—we hope—may prevent you from ever needing to seek orthopedic care. We’ve provided tips for how to exercise, work, live, and play more safely to minimize the likelihood of an accident or injury. But even the most cautious and attentive person will, on occasion, experience pain or discomfort due to an orthopedic issue.

From injuries leading to things like fractures and sprains to sudden or unexpected flare-ups of chronic musculoskeletal conditions, you sometimes don’t have time to wait for a scheduled ortho appointment – you’re in pain now, and you need help ASAP.

When that happens, where will you choose to go? The hospital? A general urgent-care center? We’ve got a better option. In this article, we’re talking about some of the many advantages offered by OrthoGeorgia’s orthopedic urgent care clinics and why we should be your first stop for your can’t-wait orthopedic care needs.

Orthopedic Urgent Care Offers Shorter Waits

Most orthopedic injuries fall low on a general healthcare facility’s triage chart. Unless you have a compound fracture that has broken the skin, your condition is not generally considered an “emergency.” Anyone who comes in before or after you with a more serious condition will be seen and stabilized before your name is called.

At times, hospital ER waiting times in Macon and Warner Robins can run 8 hours or longer for orthopedic injuries. Urgent care waits are shorter, but you’ll still be triaged low on the list for care.

At OrthoGeorgia’s two convenient walk-in urgent care clinics, we only handle orthopedic injuries. When everyone’s condition has a similar level of urgency, patients are seen more or less in the order they arrive, leading to much shorter waits.

Orthopedic Urgent Care Is Safer Than a Hospital or General Urgent Care

Particularly here in Middle Georgia,  many of our neighbors use hospital ERs and urgent care clinics as their primary care providers. Those two types of facilities see more than their fair share of communicable diseases.

While waiting to be seen at a hospital or general urgent care, you’re also breathing in air and touching surfaces that are contaminated with infections ranging from the common cold to COVID-19. At OrthoGeorgia’s orthopedic urgent care clinics, we only see orthopedic cases. Since we don’t provide care for infectious illnesses, our waiting rooms and treatment areas are considerably less likely to harbor something like RSV or MRSA. 

Orthopedic Urgent Care Is Specialized

A hospital ED might have an orthopedic specialist on site. An urgent care facility almost never will. While the residents and attending physicians in those facilities are highly skilled and dedicated providers who do an exceptional job caring for patients with every possible medical emergency, they are seldom orthopedic specialists.

At OrthoGeorgia’s orthopedic urgent care centers, you can rest assured that every medical professional on the team – from the physicians to the nurses and technologists – is specialized in treating orthopedic issues. That means they’re well-versed in the latest tools and techniques for treating and managing issues of the skeleton, muscles, connective tissues, and associated nerves. 

Furthermore, our OrthoGeorgia team includes providers who are highly specialized in one specific area of orthopedic medicine, including hand and wrist specialists, knee, hip, and shoulder specialists, foot and ankle specialists, and spine specialists. 

Orthopedic Urgent Care Is Full Service

Imagine a minor orthopedic injury has left you with a broken fingertip. If you visit a general urgent care center, your visit could end up turning into a crosstown adventure:

• If the urgent care doesn’t have an X-ray, you’ll need to go to an imaging center to have diagnostic imaging. 
• The imaging center will send the X-rays to a radiologist, and you’ll be referred back to the urgent care or to an orthopedic specialist for treatment.
• Once a doctor has examined your finger, you’ll need a splint or a cast, which they may or may not have on site. If they don’t, that’s yet another trip.
• Broken fingers hurt, and if you need a prescription pain medicine or anti-inflammatory, you have to stop at the pharmacy before you can go home and start healing.

If you’re lucky, two of those stops might be in the same part of town. If you’re not, simply getting treatment for your broken finger can turn into an all-day process.

At an OrthoGeorgia orthopedic urgent care, our patients enjoy the full range of OrthoGeorgia services:

• Our diagnostic imaging staff is ARRT-registered radiologic technologists who use our on-site imaging technologies to deliver high-quality images.
• There’s no need to transfer images between practices – your OrthoGeorgia provider will get them directly from the imaging team.
• We provide casting, bracing, and other assistive medical devices in-house – you’ll never need to stop somewhere else to find the splint your finger needs.
• Our on-site pharmacy in Macon means you don’t even have to stop at the drug store on the way home – you get complete care, from triage to treatment, under one roof.

Orthopedic Urgent Care Is Convenient and Accessible 

“Urgent care” isn’t very urgent if you can’t get in to see someone when you need to. That’s why OrthoGeorgia’s orthopedic urgent care centers are walk-in clinics with no appointment required. Just come in, let us know what’s going on, and let us start providing you with the care you need.

We’re also convenient, with two locations in Middle Georgia. Our Macon and Warner Robins orthopedic urgent cares offer extended hours: 7:30 a.m.–7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Saturday. Extended weekday and weekend hours mean you can come outside of school and work hours.

Don’t Suffer With an Orthopedic Issue! Visit an OrthoGeorgia Orthopedic Urgent Care Center Today! 

Disclaimer: The information contained within this material is intended for informational purposes only. No material in this content is intended to be a substitute for professional medical diagnosis, treatment, or advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other healthcare provider with questions regarding your medical conditions and treatment options.