Injury Prevention in Antonia, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to improve your performance, or you just retired and want to spend more time taking ski vacations, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our licensed Antonia, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to heal after an injury, we are complete movement health specialists who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to show you techniques that are proven to prevent injury. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Antonia, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in activities like playing sports, playing golf, or other physical activities. Furthermore, pursuing an active lifestyle helps stave off chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, eurodegenerative disease, anxiety, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Antonia, MO physical therapists help you return to action and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention professionals can help keep you active by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our treatment plans, for both recovery and injury prevention, have been prove to work and are personalized to each client and the activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a lingering injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Antonia, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can continue with your active lifestyle, keep reading or inquire about an appointment today.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Antonia, MO

Most injuries fall into two categories:

1. Chronic injuries are injuries happen gradually as a body part degrades because of repetitive movements. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes such as baseball or quarterbacks, with joint pain usually being the first indicator.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen in an instant. Examples include falling or a sudden impact by an object or another person. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, such as rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, like ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Antonia, MO

While injuries can happen in a variety of circumstances, and are sometimes unpreventable, they generally occur because your muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, and joints cannot hold up under the force, torque, or stretching that are required or are possible in a given activity. There are three main causes of why your body cannot adjust to an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can result in dependency on one muscle group, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It can also lead to poor posture, and one set of muscles becoming tired sooner, making them more susceptible to injuries. Injuries can be caused by poor muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong chest and weak back, or in the same muscle group, such as the four muscles in the rotator cuff having different levels of strength. Muscle imbalance can result in:

• Muscle weakness
• Muscle inflexibility
• Poor muscle recruitment
• Coordination deficits

Personalized injury prevention with our certified physical therapists in Antonia, MO will ensure that your muscles are at optimal proportional strength.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body bending in ways it is not designed to, increasing your risk of injury. It can be caused by a variety of musculoskeletal issues. Symptoms include:

• Joint mobility limitations
• Muscle imbalance
• Coordination deficits
• Reduced balance

When you first visit our injury prevention professionals in Antonia, MO, we’ll discuss your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, alongside with your doctor or any other providers involved in your treatment, we’ll come up with a personalized treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with desk jobs. People who play sports and others with active lifestyles can have postural dysfunction when resting, sitting, or in specific body positions necessary for a given activity. Correct posture means proper alignments of the different joints and muscles of your body in a way that keeps the spine within its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the joints in the spine closer together, which disrupts our body’s internal communications and makes it difficult to attain the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. Symptoms include:

• Muscle weakness
• Muscle imbalance
• Poor positioning
• Joint mobility limitations
• Poor muscle recruitment

Good posture is a necessary part of injury prevention because it ensures you are using your muscles equally, your flexibility is not jeopardized, and your spine is in its natural position.

How to Prevent Injury in Antonia, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to prevent one. No one safety tip is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are several steps you can take to make sure your body is prepared for your desired activity level:

• Take a rest — Your body needs time to rest and recover after any moderate to intense activity. If you have a very high activity level, make sure to take one or two days off per week to encourage your body to naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you have a more modest activity level, rest for the rest of the day after an activity so your body doesn’t become too fatigued.
• Wear protective equipment — Helmets, chin straps, protective eyewear, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries such as rashes or concussions. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Antonia, MO doctor or physical therapist may recommend braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other techniques like tying your athletic footwear tightly can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
• Boost muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the force and torque of heavy activity. In your personalized injury prevention program with our expert Antonia, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to achieve ideal muscle balance and strengthen the smaller muscles needed to be able to avoid injury in the activities you love.
• Boost flexibility — Stretching contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It enhances which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which lets for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to adapt to more drastic movements.
  2. It improves blood flow, which carries nourishing blood to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and re-energizing the muscles.
  3. It encourages good posture, which we already know is an is one of the most important factors of injury prevention.

  According to studies, sports like football that require dynamic activities require muscles and tendons compliant enough to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before games or training further helps prevent injuries.

• Use proper technique — In every physical activity, there are accepted techniques to use. These techniques not only improve performance but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle with the shoulder in order to avoid a head injury, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best apply torque to your body. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to slow down your movement and analyze how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If a part of your body is sore, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel something suddenly that doesn’t feel right, immediately withdraw from the activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t feeling up to a particularly rigorous workout, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though playing through pain is often viewed as a courageous act among competitors, playing with soft tissue or structural damage could aggravate a current injury and leave you on the sidelines for much longer than you would have been sitting out. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, and rehab with a physical therapist to ensure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Follow the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules to reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for leading with the helmet in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the presence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are all rules put in place to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Consult a professional physical therapist — It’s always advisable to have a medical evaluation before starting another season or committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. During your visit, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a knowledgeable physical therapist in Antonia, MO is something you should consider. Every treatment plan we employ has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of injury, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to how old you are, any previous injuries, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Antonia, MO

Falls in the elderly were responsible for more than 3 million emergency room admissions and more than 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that being physical active is a great method for reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints healthy. While the physical demands for seniors may not be as high as an athlete, the same principles of strength, balance, flexibility, and proper posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Antonia, MO include:

• Physical Therapy Clinic
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment
• Sciatica Treatment
• Sports Medicine
• Hand Pain Physical Therapy
• Foot & Ankle Pain Treatment
• Hip Pain Treatment
• Plantar Fasciitis Treatment
• Stroke Rehabilitation
• Hip Replacement Physical Therapy

Antonia, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love can create a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same elation. The licensed Antonia, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body strong and flexible, and your mind confident that you can safely return to the activities you love doing most. You deserve to feel the physical and mental health benefits of doing what you do best. Make an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention experts in Antonia, MO.