The Center for Family Practice
Family Medicine & Internists located in Latham, NY
X-rays are an important diagnostic tool that helps your medical provider address urgent care needs, like fractures, dislocated joints, and even pneumonia. The Center for Family Practice offers onsite digital X-rays performed by a certified technician for faster diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of conditions. If you suspect you need an X-ray, call the Latham, New York, office today.
Which conditions can be diagnosed with an X-ray?
The certified X-ray technicians at the Center for Family Practice use the state-of-the-art onsite digital X-ray system to detect a variety of conditions. Some of these include:
- Joint dislocation
- Fractures
- Broken bones
- Arthritis
- Digestive tract disorders
- Pneumonia
In-house X-ray services eliminate the need to travel to another location for X-rays, and your results are available immediately for added convenience.
What should I expect during an X-ray?
You may be standing, sitting, or lying down during your X-ray, and your technician might ask you to remove eyeglasses, jewelry, or any objects that could block the camera from getting a clear image. You can't feel an X-ray, but you might need to hold an uncomfortable position for a short time.
Once your technician has positioned you for your X-ray, they angle the camera's tube to focus on the site of your injury or pain, and then they use a computer to take the X-ray images. They may need to reposition the camera or have you change the position of your body in order to take X-rays from different angles to obtain a range of images to help with diagnosis.
In most cases, your Center for Family Practice medical provider will review your images and discuss them with you before you leave the office.
Are X-rays safe?
X-rays do expose you to low levels of radiation; most experts agree that the benefits of an accurate diagnosis outweigh the risk of this tiny amount of exposure. However, X-rays aren't recommended during pregnancy, so you should alert the staff if you're pregnant or you think you might be pregnant.
What if my child needs an X-ray?
Young children sometimes need to wear a restraining device during an X-ray to help them stay still; staying still ensures that X-rays don't need to be repeated, which increases the amount of radiation exposure to your child. These devices are designed specifically for the X-ray process, and they don't hurt your child.
A parent remains in the room whenever a child has an X-ray, and the technicians are skilled at getting kids through their X-rays quickly, so they don't need to be repeated.
If you have pain that may require an X-ray to diagnose, call the Center for Family Practice today.