When it comes to head injuries, the severity can vary depending on the cause of the injury. Injuries can happen to the scalp, skull or brain—and each of those requires specific treatment. When you experience any sort of head injury, whether it be jarring your head, taking an impact or getting cut, heading to your nearest Urgency Room is crucial when it comes to treating a head injury.
When minutes matter, your local Urgency Room can see you in a fraction of the time it would take to be seen at your typical emergency room. Our services fill the gap between emergency room and urgent care. With locations convenient to those in Minneapolis, St. Paul and surrounding cities.
Schedule an appointment at any of our three locations, open 365 days a year, including holidays, from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Our telehealth services are available from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Situated in Woodbury, Vadnais Heights, and Eagan, The Urgency Room is the quick and convenient alternative to overcrowded and understaffed emergency rooms for residents throughout the Twin Cities.
Our state-of-the-art facilities in Woodbury, Vadnais Heights and Eagan are outfitted with a full suite of medical equipment to treat anything from asthma and chronic aches to early pregnancy bleeding and kidney stones. Our physicians are experienced and of the highest caliber to ensure you get the high-quality care you need when you need it. If you’re experiencing a head injury—including concussions, severe headaches and migraines—get to the Urgency Room. We’re ready to give you unbeatable care sooner than you would at an emergency room.
Concussions Can Be Treated at The Urgency Room
Concussions are an all-too-common head injury for athletes, but they can happen to anyone who falls, hits their head, or even takes a hard blow to another part of their body. As a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI), concussions should be treated as soon as possible. When you get a concussion, you may be experiencing an altered mental state, confusion, and disruption to normal functioning of the brain. Multiple concussions can have prolonged or lifelong detrimental effects.
A concussion can happen for any jarring of the brain, including if you get hit elsewhere on your body hard enough to shake your head. You might not even know you have a concussion as the symptoms might not be evident until hours or days after the impact. Most sporting events have a trained EMT or medical personnel on the sidelines, but in case a medical professional isn’t present, here are some symptoms to look for when it comes to concussions:
- Confusion
- Difficulty concentrating
- Headache
- Memory loss
- Loss of coordination and/or balance
- Sleepiness
- Slurred speech
- Nausea and vomiting
- Ringing in the ears
- Sensitivity to light and noise
If you or someone who’s endured a big hit experiences any of these symptoms, they may have a concussion. Sometimes, a concussion may make you lose consciousness, but not all concussions cause that. Just like any other injury—sprain, strain or break—the affected bone, muscle or ligament needs time to rest so it can heal. Treating a concussion can usually be done in your home.
Rest as much as possible. If it occurred in the middle of your sporting event, don’t go back in to play. Physical and mental rest is crucial at this time. This means avoiding physical exertion and activities that require a lot of mental concentration, such as reading, playing video games, using your smartphone or watching TV. In some instances, this may even mean restricting your schoolwork or responsibilities at your job until your symptoms improve.
Once symptoms start improving, slowly add more activity to your schedule—don’t just dive right back into the routine and workload you had pre-concussion. Our physicians may run additional cognitive or imaging tests to see the extent of your concussion, but most will require rest and acetaminophen for pain (avoid ibuprofen and aspirin to decrease the risk of bleeding).
Migraines and Severe Headaches
You don’t have to suffer through the pain of a migraine or severe headache for hours or days on end. Don’t seclude yourself to a dark place and wait it out. You don’t have to put up with the life-interrupting pain and sensitivity that comes with these types of head ailments—instead, get to your nearest Urgency Room.
You may experience some sort of warning that an impending migraine is about to happen, but sometimes they give no warning and show up out of nowhere. If you don’t experience warning symptoms like a flash of light, blind spots or tingling, a migraine or severe headache will be an unpleasant surprise.
The Urgency Room is fully equipped to help manage your migraines as well as help you avoid them in the future. Although you might now experience all of them, a migraine happens in four stages: prodrome, aura, headache and postdrome. Prodrome usually occurs the day before a migraine and can include neck stiffness, irritability, depression or hyperactivity. Aura includes the vision of bright lights or blind spots. The attack, lasting from hours to days, can include constant pain, throbbing pain, nausea, vomiting and blurred vision. You may feel lightheaded or even faint. Postdrome takes place after the migraine and is the stage in which you may feel drained of energy.
While migraines often go untreated—aside from the usual retreat into a dark quiet place—you should come into your nearest Urgency Room to seek help. Frequent or especially severe migraines and headaches can be helped with our care. The Urgency Room can help you suppress and diminish the frequency of migraines through dietary advice, lifestyle changes and medications.
Stitches, Bumps and Bruises on Your Head
There are an innumerable variety of ways to injure your head. From playing sports to falling to enduring an impact in an accident or otherwise, your head is susceptible to lots of injuries. Don’t risk leaving an injury to heal on its own. If your head or upper body gets shaken or jarred, or if your scalp gets scraped or cut, our physicians can quickly and accurately assess, diagnose and treat your head injury.
Why suffer through head injuries? Coming to your nearest Urgency Room means getting the treatment you need—fast. Don’t put off getting your concussions, migraines or other head injuries looked at just because you want to avoid hours in the waiting room of your nearest emergency room. We’re open 365 days per year, even holidays, from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Our physicians are waiting to help you now.