No one ever wants to get hurt, but it happens. Even if you live an active lifestyle and do your best to avoid injury, getting hurt occasionally is just part of life.

While a simple sprain or strain will eventually heal on its own, what should you do if your pain is lingering or getting worse instead of better?

Come to AFC Urgent Care Hixson, of course! Our team is trained to diagnose and treat a wide variety of injuries, including broken bones. Read on to learn more.

How Do Bones Break?

Your bones are the real heavy- lifters in your body. They provide your body structure while also protecting your vital organs on a daily basis. Because of these important jobs, your bones are built to withstand daily pressures and impacts and actually have a flexible quality to them to help absorb everyday forces. However, if an impact or fall is severe enough, it can prove to be too much pressure on your bone and fractures or a full break can occur.

Fractures aren’t complete breaks of the bone, but they can certainly become one if you don’t care for it the right way. If you get hurt and notice the area is swollen, painful to the touch or to movement, or has a visual deformity, come see us right away for an X-ray.

Bones That Can More Easily Fracture

• Wrists
• Ankles
• Hips
• Clavicle (collarbone)

Does AFC Have an X-ray Machine?

We sure do! Stop by our center for an exam and X-ray any day of the week. Once you arrive, we will do a visual exam of the injury and ask questions about the incident that caused your injury. From there, we will take you to our X-ray technicians and get a good image of the area of concern. We have a digital X-ray machine on site, which means the image we take is uploaded onto a computer versus printed on physical film.

Digital X-rays allow us to zoom in and manipulate the image without sacrificing quality, and we can get a clearer and more precise view of the injury. Fractures and broken bones appear as dark spots within your bone, so we are looking for those dark spaces between what would normally be solid bone in an X-ray. If we do discover a fracture, we will discuss next steps and find a treatment that works for you.

Digital X-rays vs. Traditional X-rays

• Reduced radiation exposure
• Clearer images
• Fast turnaround
• Reduced environmental impact

Our X-ray technology can help you feel better faster. Come see us at AFC Urgent Care Hixson for an X-ray today.