The Right Diagnosis, Right Away

Recently, a 22-year-old patient came to see me for a wrist injury after falling off his skateboard while skating to work. His injury was 10 days prior, and he initially went to the nearby emergency department where after an x-ray, CT scan, and waiting 5 hours, he went home with a diagnosis of a “chip fracture” and wearing a bulky splint and sling that was both uncomfortable and left him unable to work as a waiter because he couldn’t use his fingers. When he came to see me, he was frustrated because the splint was uncomfortable, he had not been able to work, and was uncertain about how long it would take to recover. Additionally, his wrist was stiff from the immobilization.

At Sports Health Northwest we provide definitive treatment for a variety of sports injuries, broken bones, and other orthopedic injuries like sprains, and strains to our patients in the Portland, Oregon area. We also partner with our patients to provide the best possible care to meet the dual priorities of optimal healing and maintaining function. Many patients we see have been referred to us for specialty level definitive care from other medical practices like emergency departments, urgent care clinics, or primary care clinics where they received initial treatment. At Sports Health Northwest, we recognize the importance of early, accurate diagnosis and treatment to help optimize recovery from injury. We are keenly aware of how busy individuals are and how it can be difficult to make time for multiple doctor visits for the same problem and how frustrating it can be to bounce around from one physician to another when trying to get thoughtful and high-quality medical care. As a result, we are offering same day appointments for injuries. In most situations, we can schedule your appointment within 24 hours. We accept most health insurance and we focus on musculoskeletal injuries like knee, shoulder, hand/wrist, and foot/ankle injuries. If you fell and injured your knee, strained your back lifting something, or you woke up with pain in your shoulder, give us a call at 503-747-6376. You will be greeted by our friendly staff who will work with you and your schedule to look for every possible opportunity to schedule an appointment for you to see our board-certified sports medicine physician with 20 years of experience treating orthopedic and sports injured patients of all ages.

We can provide early diagnosis and treatment for your musculoskeletal needs whether they result from sports activities like skiing or skateboarding or that unforeseeable accident. We want to help you get the right diagnosis right away and have the answers to your questions about healing and recovery. We understand that uncertainty and pain can be very frustrating, and we want to help reduce that concern and burden for you. We know that you have unique and important considerations when it comes to healing from an injury and getting back to normal. We can help you get definitive treatment for your bone, muscle, or joint injury and get you back in the game.

Author