Injury Prevention in Argentville, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or a recent retiree who wants to spend more time camping, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our professional Argentville, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to heal after an injury, we are experts in the entire musculoskeletal system who can evaluate your body’s current condition and how you move to teach out exercises that are proven to reduce the risk of injury by preparing your body for the stressors of your desired activity. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or call the location nearest you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Argentville, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in activities like playing sports, kayaking, or other physical activities. Additionally, committing to an active lifestyle helps stave off chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia, mental health issues, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Argentville, MO physical therapists allow you to return to action and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention specialists can help keep you active by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our methods, both when helping restore motion health and when looking to improve it, are proven to be effective and are personalized to each client and the lifestyle they desire.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a lingering injury that won’t heal on its own, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Argentville, MO for a free injury screening. To take preventative measures and protect your sport or hobby, read on below or inquire about an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Argentville, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

1. Repetitive demand injuries are injuries that occur when a part of the body repeats the same motion time and time again. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes such as raquetball or shotput and pole-vaulters and commonly are accompanied by joint pain.
2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include falling or a sudden impact by an object or another person. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, broken bones, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, for example rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

Why Do Injuries Happen? | Injury Prevention in Argentville, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally happen because your soft tissue, bones, and joints cannot handle the force, torque, or stretching that are required or are possible in a given activity. There are three common dysfunctions that lead to injury:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is essential to supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can cause dependency on one muscle group, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also prevents you from having ideal posture, and the weaker muscles will become fatigued more quickly, increasing the risk of injury. Muscle imbalance applies to inadequate muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong bicep and weak tricep, or in the same muscle group, such as the four muscles in the rotator cuff having different levels of strength. Muscle imbalance can cause injury through:

• Muscle weakness
• Muscle inflexibility
• Poor muscle recruitment
• Poor coordination

Personalized injury prevention with our experienced physical therapists in Argentville, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body moving in unnatural ways, causing injury. It can be caused by numerous musculoskeletal issues. It can cause injury through:

• Joint mobility restrictions
• Muscle imbalance
• Poor coordination
• Lessened balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Argentville, MO, we’ll go over your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, alongside with your physician or any additional providers involved in your treatment, we’ll design a personalized game plan been proven to work through research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with desk jobs. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can have postural dysfunction when at lest, using the computer, or in specific positions they need to be in for a given activity. Good posture means proper alignments when both static and moving in a way that keeps the spine within its natural curves. Poor posture can compress the bones of the spine, which disrupts our body’s internal communications and makes it harder to achieve the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. Symptoms include:

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

By guiding you to correct posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring you are using the right muscles for the right movements, your flexibility is not jeopardized, and your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.

Injury Prevention Methods in Argentville, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to reduce that risk. We cannot promise that our injury prevention program completely negates the risk of injury. However, there are several steps you can take to make sure your body is strong and flexible enough for your intended activity:

• Take breaks — Your body needs time to rest and recover after any moderate to intense activity. If you’re heavily active, one or two rest days a week will encourage your body to naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you’re moderately active, take it easy after activity so your body doesn’t become too fatigued.
• Use protective equipment — Helmets, chest guards, elbow pads, and other equipment necessary in many sports helps you avoid injuries such as bruises or concussions. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Argentville, MO physician or injury prevention expert may suggest stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other techniques like tying your cleats tightly can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
• Improve muscle strength — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the rigors of heavy activity. Our Argentville, MO injury prevention specialists will work to achieve ideal muscle balance and strengthen the often forgotten muscles needed to be able to avoid injury in the activities you want to participate in.
• Improve flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It increases your range of motion, which lets for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to handle more pronounced movements.
  2. It increases blood flow, which allows for nourishing blood to flow to your muscles, removing waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to restore themselves.
  3. It encourages good posture, which, as we’ve discussed, is is one of the most important aspects of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like soccer that necessitate bouncing and jumping require soft tissue with sufficient flexibility to incorporate and expel the high amount of energy required. Also, it’s important to stretch and warm up before games or training to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use proper technique — Through the years, each sport and physical activity develops a consensus of the best techniques to use. These techniques not only help you get be the best athlete you can be but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of a head injury, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and educate you on how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If a part of your body is bothering you, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel something suddenly that doesn’t feel right, immediately stop all physical activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for an intense training session, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though playing through pain is often viewed as a heroic act among competitors, forcing your body to perform with soft tissue or structural damage could aggravate an existing injury and leave you off the field or court for much longer than you would have been sitting out. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting urgent care, and scheduling appointments with a physical therapist to make sure your body heals naturally and can handle the activity you want to return to.
• 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 targeting in football, rules against head-first sliding in baseball, and even the presence of bike lanes are examples of rules put in place to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Consult a professional physical therapist — It’s in your best interest to see a doctor before another season begins or committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. During your physical, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Argentville, MO is something you should consider. Every treatment plan we employ has been proven to help athletes remain healthy, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to how old you are, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Argentville, MO

Falls in the elderly accounted for over 3 million urgent care visits and over 34,000 fatalities. Studies show that physical activity can go a long way in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions that limit mobility like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints healthy. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and optimal posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Argentville, 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

Argentville, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in in an activity you prepare and train for and love can create a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same happiness. The knowledgeable Argentville, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body prepared for the rigors of physical activity, and your mind at ease that you do not have to fear going back to what you love. You deserve to feel the physical and mental health benefits that you do not want to lose. Make an appointment online or contact the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention specialists in Argentville, MO.