Corvallis Deals: Sports Injuries: When to See a Doctor, and who to see in Corvallis

This is a Guest post From Jessica Beauchemin of jessbfit.com, a personal trainer focused on helping women achieve their fitness goals via private and semi-private in-home training.

If you've ever gotten hurt playing sports or asked yourself the question, "should I see a doctor?" then this article is for you.

This is a true story. Some details have been changed to protect the innocent.

This morning I received a frantic string of text messages from a dear friend that looked something like this:

Stan: Hey, I dislocated my thumb last night playing full-contact badminton*. It's really swollen. What do I do? How long 'til I can tear it up on the badminton court again?

(As I am not a doctor, I played it safe and gave generic advice)

Me: RICE it. Rest, ice, compression, elevation. Get the swelling down. Keep it immobile. Let me search around for some more details.

My search of course, led me to statements I knew he wouldn't want to hear. There's a 4-6 week recovery for thumb dislocations, supposing that the thumb was re-located immediately, and that no surgery was required. Thumb function is essential for just about every daily activity I could think of, so permanent thumb damage or chronic pain would be devastating to a young person. I got back on my phone.

Me: Did you see a doctor yet?

Stan: No. I hate doctors.

Me: Gah! Go see a doctor. You have health insurance. You don't want to permanently alter your thumb's ability to do thumb things! You're looking at 4-6 weeks off from badminton.

Stan: I'm not sitting out for 4 weeks.

More back and forth ensued, but ultimately there was a happy ending.

Stan: Alright, I'll go to the doctor.

When faced with an injury, especially something that seems minor, most people face a similar mental struggle. What do I do? Is it serious enough to see a doctor? Can I take care of it on my own? Where do I go for reliable advice? Should I just wait it out and see if it heals on its own? When can I get back to doing what I normally do?

In this case, Stan was lucky. He re-located his thumb right after the injury occurred. If he had not done that, he could have set himself up for a much bigger problem. Of course, his attitude about not seeing a doctor could have stood in the way of him making a speedy and complete recovery, or suffering permanent injury. Chronic pain resulting from musculoskeletal injuries like this one can have a serious impact on quality of life. Think about your relatives, your friends and even yourself. Do you have chronic pain? If you could have prevented it by seeing a doctor would you have done so?

Continue to JessBfit.com to learn the five questions you need to ask to figure out when you should see a doctor.