Living with chronic pain is an exhausting and challenging experience that can negatively impact your life, work, and relationships. Anyone suffering from chronic pain understands how it can feel overwhelming, frustrating, and even isolating. Often, people will try to manage their pain with over-the-counter medications, hot or cold packs, or even ignore the pain and continue to push through daily activities. However, there comes a time when the pain may become unbearable and affect every aspect of your life.

As the summer heats up, most people spend more time outside, enjoying spending time with their friends and family and participating in outdoor activities. While taking advantage of the warmer weather is enjoyable, the increased activities can place you at risk of unexpected accidents, illnesses, and injuries. Here are a few summertime conditions that could land you in your closest urgent care — and a few tips for avoiding them.

A hernia occurs when a portion of an organ, such as your intestines, bulges through a spot in the muscle surrounding it. This is a common occurrence that can happen to anyone at any age. In many cases, your doctor will recommend surgery to repair the damage. If you have an upcoming hernia surgery, here are a few simple things you can do to prepare for the procedure. Eating and Drinking Before the Procedure

There's nothing as bad as dealing with chronic pain. It affects your ability to move freely and effectively conduct day-to-day activities such as going to work or exercising. Another thing about chronic pain is that it's difficult to do away with it by taking over-the-counter painkillers. It requires you to visit a pain management clinic to help you navigate around the problem and have the ability to conduct various activities with ease.

When you are in need of urgent medical care, having access to an urgent care clinic can be incredibly convenient. Before urgent care centers became the norm, you either had to wait until your doctor could squeeze you in for an appointment or go to the local emergency room for care. Urgent care centers tend to allow walk-ins or rapid appointments so you can get care as quickly as possible. While these medical care establishments have been around for a while, they are still associated with a lot of misconceptions.