Flu season is well on its way. It’s time to be proactive and get yourself looked over so you can make it through the winter in one piece.
Easier said than done, right? There’s a lot you have to keep in mind when it comes to your health. You need to get a flu shot and make sure you’re constantly stocked up on juice, soup and vitamins. You’ve got to receive a check-up to ensure you’re not accidentally overlooking anything internal, either. It’s a lot to get through and only so much time to get to it with the weather dipping, so consider looking below to catch up on the physicals that will keep your health in the clear.
Urgent care models are designed as a convenient alternative to the emergency room while still delivering the preventative and reactive care you need.
Fracture Care
You might be tempted to visit the emergency room for a fracture. They’re painful, certainly not pretty, and panic can override your good sense and leave you with a larger medical bill than necessary. Remember that an urgent care center is a flexible location that can treat any number of minor to moderate injuries, up to and including a twisted ankle or cracked arm. Four out of five urgent care centers in the United States provide fracture care, with 85% of these locations open seven days a week.
Minor Burns
Another painful injury that can cause you to lose your head is a burn. These tend to be more serious than cut due to the erosion of your skin’s protective layering, leaving them even more likely to become infected. It’s best not to risk it with any kind of burn and visit an urgent care center. While dizziness remains the second most common complaint heard in the doctor’s office (at an overwhelming 70% of the nation’s population), burns are some of the most frequent injuries brought to urgent care and emergency room settings.
Flu Shots
A simple request you can make when receiving your physicals is to also get your flu shot. These vaccines are updated every year to keep up with the mutating flu virus, able to keep you protected from the three to four most common strains seen in the country. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful, however. It takes up to two weeks for your body to acclimate to the weakened version of the virus and there is always a small risk you could still come down with the flu. Remember to keep your hands away from your mouth, nose and eyes when outside and to always sneeze into the crook of your elbow.
Strep Throat
A very painful condition that can last for weeks, strep throat is also widespread during the winter season. This doesn’t just affect children, either, but accounts for up to 10% of the total cases diagnosed every year. A common rule-of-thumb by doctors is for people with strep throat to quarantine themselves for at least 24 hours after the condition has been diagnosed. This means skipping work and exercising caution around any family or a significant other, as it’s easy to spread and can be incredibly difficult to deal with without a trip to the doctor.
Physicals
When in doubt? Just visiting an urgent care clinic and asking for physicals will narrow down any and all health problems you’re having. You can check your body mass index to make sure you’re of a reasonable weight to height ratio or see if your persistent nausea has an underlying cause. You can determine the after-effects of a stressful past few months or ask the doctors if you’re missing out on any important vaccines. The best healthcare is provided by the over 20,000 physicians working at various practices, clinics and multicare models around the country.
Prepare for winter. Get your physicals finished and ask for your flu shot at your local urgent care center.