Urgent care centers are designed to fill the gap between a primary care physician’s office and a hospital emergency room, focusing on immediate treatment for acute, non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries. For individuals experiencing sudden, significant discomfort, a primary concern is whether these facilities offer effective pain relief beyond simple oral medication. Urgent care clinics routinely administer specific types of pain injections, providing rapid relief and quickly managing symptoms.
Scope of Acute Pain Injections Available
Urgent care facilities commonly administer injectable medications to manage acute pain, particularly when oral medications have been ineffective or when rapid symptom control is necessary. One of the most frequently used systemic injections is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), specifically ketorolac, often known by the brand name Toradol. This powerful, non-opioid analgesic is given by injection to quickly reduce pain and inflammation throughout the body, making it useful for conditions like severe migraines, back pain flare-ups, or acute injuries.
Corticosteroid injections, commonly called cortisone shots, are another primary treatment option available at many urgent care clinics. These potent anti-inflammatory agents treat localized swelling and pain, such as that caused by bursitis, tendonitis, or acute joint flare-ups related to arthritis. Unlike systemic NSAIDs, corticosteroids are injected directly into the affected tissue to provide targeted, often long-lasting, relief. Steroid injections can also quickly reduce severe inflammation associated with allergic reactions or upper respiratory conditions like severe sinus infections.
In addition to pain-focused drugs, local anesthetic agents such as lidocaine are used to numb a specific area. These injections are routinely used during minor urgent care procedures, such as cleaning and stitching a laceration or draining an abscess. The anesthetic works by temporarily blocking nerve signals, ensuring the patient remains comfortable while the provider performs the necessary procedure. In some cases, a local anesthetic is mixed with a corticosteroid injection to provide immediate pain relief while the steroid takes a few hours to days to begin its anti-inflammatory action.
Determining Factors for Treatment
A provider’s decision to administer a pain injection is based on a thorough medical assessment that focuses on the suddenness and severity of the patient’s symptoms. Urgent care clinicians must first determine the likely cause of the pain, a process called differential diagnosis, to ensure the pain is not a symptom of a more serious, underlying condition that requires emergency care. The provider reviews the patient’s medical history, current medications, and any known allergies to safely select the most appropriate injectable treatment.
The fundamental distinction for urgent care is between acute and chronic pain. Urgent care is specifically equipped to address acute pain, which is pain of sudden onset and short duration, such as a muscle strain, a minor fracture, or a severe headache. The facility is not designed for chronic pain management, which involves long-term strategies and monitoring.
If the pain is acute and severe enough to warrant immediate, non-oral intervention, the provider will consider an injection, especially if the pain has not responded to oral medications. The choice between a systemic NSAID like ketorolac and a localized corticosteroid depends entirely on the nature of the discomfort. A localized inflammatory condition like tendonitis would favor a cortisone shot, while widespread muscle pain or a headache would likely be treated with a systemic NSAID injection.
Limitations and When to Seek Emergency Care
Despite the availability of potent non-opioid injections, urgent care centers operate under strict limitations, particularly concerning controlled substances. Most urgent care facilities have policies that severely restrict or prohibit the use of opioid injections, such as morphine or hydromorphone, to manage pain. When opioids are deemed necessary for acute, severe pain, prescriptions are typically limited to a small, short-term supply, often only three days or less, in accordance with state and federal guidelines.
Urgent care is also limited by the diagnostic equipment and specialist staff available, meaning complex or severe conditions must be immediately referred to the emergency room. Pain that requires advanced imaging, such as a CT scan or MRI, cannot be fully evaluated in an urgent care setting. Similarly, conditions requiring specialist interventions, like complex joint aspirations or epidural injections, fall outside the scope of urgent care practice.
Certain “red-flag” symptoms indicate a potentially life-threatening emergency and necessitate an immediate visit to the emergency room rather than urgent care. These include:
- Severe, sudden-onset chest pain.
- Signs of a stroke like slurred speech or weakness on one side of the body.
- Severe abdominal pain.
- Pain accompanied by a high fever and a stiff neck.
- Severe shortness of breath.
- Uncontrollable bleeding.