It’s no secret that many Americans suffer from some sort of pain or experience accidents on a daily basis. That’s why there are emergency room care centers, walk in clinics, hospitals, and urgent cares available all over the country. Some people need to be seen for more serious issues, like broken bones, while others may simply need a checkup or a round of physical therapy. No matter the ailment, Americans should really count themselves lucky that there are so many different types of medical facilities available to them to treat virtually every type of ailment under the sun. But what are the reason for a lot of emergency room care or other types of medical visits?
Chronic pain is one of the leading ailments that have people across the U.S. regularly seeking medical aid. For example, the Baby Boomer generation will see six out of ten people in their generation managing some sort of chronic condition by the year 2030. Some experience chronic pain so severe that even their everyday movement is becoming greatly limited. Lower back pain is one of the primary culprits of chronic pain in older generations. Whether due to Degenerative Disc Disease, or some other cause, a lot of older Americans are greatly affected by chronic lower back pain. In fact, a shocking 69% say that their day to day lives are being negatively impacted by back pain.
To help manage the discomfort associated with chronic back pain, some try exercising for some relief. While this works for some, many more have to regularly see their doctor, physical therapist, or take medications to help relieve the pain. However, there are still a lot of people who just choose to do nothing about their pain, and have accepted it as part of their lives. Of those suffering from chronic low back pain, an estimated 40% opt out of seeing their doctor or physical therapist to tend to their pain.
Besides chronic pain, other leading causes behind people seeking out emergency room care or urgent care centers are dizziness, upper respiratory conditions, and wound repairs. Dizziness is a common complaint among patients, and an estimated 70% of the people in the U.S. have experience dizziness at some point in their lives. Wound repairs are also common, which makes sense when you consider that there are nearly 25,000 ankle sprains reported each day!
Because accidents and illnesses happen all the time, many emergency room care centers and urgent care centers are open for a good portion of the week. About 85% of urgent care centers alone are open every day of the week, and the field of urgent care medicine has about 20,000 physicians who work in urgent care centers. This is all good news for Americans, as there’s no sign that they’ll ever have to worry about having access to quality health care to meet their medical needs.