Walk-in orthopedic care in Alabama and Georgia

Do I Need the ER for This Injury?

Most injuries don’t need an emergency room. A broken finger, a rolled ankle, a knee that gave out, a shoulder that won’t lift: all of it can be X-rayed, scanned, splinted and treated at a walk-in orthopedic clinic, usually the same day. Some injuries really do need an ER, and that list is short and specific. Read it first.

Walk in to OS1 for

• A suspected broken bone with no open wound and no deformity: fingers, toes, wrists, ankles, forearms, collarbones
• Sprains, strains, and joints that gave out
• Knee, ankle, shoulder, elbow, hip, back and neck pain after an injury
• Sports injuries, including ACL, meniscus and rotator cuff concerns
• Swelling, bruising, or not being able to put weight on it
• An injury another clinic X-rayed and then sent you elsewhere for

You get X-ray on site and MRI on site, and it’s an open MRI, so there’s no tunnel. If you need a splint, brace, boot or cast, you get it the same visit. You leave with a plan, a work or school note if you need one, and a follow-up at the same clinic with the same people.

What it costs

An emergency room bills a facility fee before anyone examines you, which is why a broken wrist and a heart attack start from the same number. At OS1 there’s no facility fee. With insurance you pay a standard office visit copay, the same as any specialist visit on your plan.

Paying cash? Know the price before you walk in. Our self-pay pricing is published, and the front desk quotes it before we do anything, so there’s no surprise bill later.

How long it takes

An emergency room triages by severity, which is how an ER should work and exactly why a broken wrist waits behind a heart attack. Everyone sitting in an OS1 lobby is there for a bone, a joint or a muscle, so the line moves in order, and the X-ray and the MRI are both in the building instead of somewhere you have to drive to next week.

We’re not open 24 hours. Here’s when we are.

If you searched for a 24 hour orthopedic doctor, here’s the straight answer: we aren’t open 24 hours. We are open until 7 PM on weekdays and every weekend in Alabama, which covers most of the hours people actually get hurt.

Hurt after we close? If anything on the list above applies, go to an emergency room now. If it doesn’t, ice it, stay off it, and walk in when we open. If you’re not sure which one it is, go to the ER. That’s what it’s there for.

No appointment. No referral.

You don’t need an appointment and you don’t need a referral from a primary care doctor. Bring your ID, your insurance card, and a list of anything you take.