Arnold, MO

Arnold, MO

Don't let a mental block over reinjury prevent you from participating in the things what you do best.

Injury Prevention in Arnold, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to improve your performance, or a recent retiree who wants to dedicate your time to camping, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you desire. While our licensed Arnold, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to recover from injury, we are complete movement health specialists who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to teach out methods that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or reach out to the location most convenient for you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Arnold, MO residents. Many of us participate in active endeavors such as playing sports, hiking, or other physical activities. Furthermore, keeping an active lifestyle helps prevent chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, eurodegenerative disease, mental health issues, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Arnold, MO physical therapists help you return to action and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention specialists can help you reduce the risk of further injury by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our treatment plans, for both healing from and preventing injury, are based on evidence-backed techniques and are developed uniquely for each client and the lifestyle they desire.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a nagging injury that won’t heal on its own, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Arnold, MO for a free injury screening. To take preventative measures and protect your sport or hobby, read on below or inquire about an appointment today.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Arnold, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

  1. Overuse 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 softball or basketball players and commonly reveal themselves with joint pain.
  2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include landing on uneven ground or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, fractures, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, such as rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with a sudden impact to the knee.

Injury Prevention Arnold, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Arnold

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

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and some are unpreventable, they generally occur because of dysfunction or imbalance and your body and between body parts. There are three main causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can result in overemphasis for one set of muscles, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. It also prevents you from having good posture, and the weaker muscles will become fatigued faster, increasing the risk of injury. Injuries can be caused by insufficient muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong hamstring and weak quadriceps, or in the same muscle group, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Symptoms include:

Customized injury prevention with our licensed physical therapists in Arnold, MO will ensure that your muscles are at optimal proportional strength.

Movement Dysfunction

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

  • Joint mobility limitations
  • Muscle imbalance
  • Poor coordination
  • Reduced balance

When you initially see our injury prevention specialists in Arnold, MO, we’ll go over your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, in tandem with with your physician or any other providers involved in your care, we’ll develop a personalized plan of attack 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 who spend a lot of time in the same position. People who play sports and other physically active people can suffer from postural dysfunction when lying down, driving, or in certain poses they need to be in for a given activity. Healthy posture refers to proper alignments of your body from your head to your toes in a way that encourages our spine to stay in its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the joints in the spine closer together, which disrupts your nervous system and makes it harder to reach optimal motion health. It causes injuries through:

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

Good posture is a vital part of injury prevention because it ensures muscle balance, range of motion, and that your spine is in its natural position.



How to Prevent Injury in Arnold, MO

All sports and physical activities can potentially lead to an injury. No one precaution is 100% foolproof in injury prevention. However, there are things you can do to make sure your body is prepared for your intended activity:

  • 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, one or two rest days a week will allow your body to engage in its natural healing processes. If you have a more moderate activity level, rest for the rest of the day after an activity so your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints become too fatigued.
  • Use protective equipment — Helmets, chin straps, protective eyewear, and other equipment necessary in many sports can help prevent injuries like lacerations or brain injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Arnold, MO physician or injury prevention professional may suggest braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the affected area. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further stabilization.
  • Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the force and torque necessary for in sports and other activities. Our Arnold, MO injury prevention professionals will work to achieve ideal muscle balance and strengthen the often forgotten muscles needed to safely participate in the activities you love.
  • Improve flexibility — Stretching contributes to injury prevention in three way:
    1. It boosts your range of motion, which lets for your soft tissue to adapt to more extreme movements.
    2. It improves blood flow, which carries protein-rich blood to your muscles, eliminating waste byproduct and re-energizing the muscles.
    3. It enhances your posture, which, as you read earlier, is is one of the most important factors of injury prevention.

    According to studies, sports like football that necessitate sudden twists and movements require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before activities further helps prevent injuries.

  • Use correct technique — Through the years, each sport and physical activity develops a consensus of the best techniques to use. These techniques not only improve performance but help prevent injuries by not forcing your body into unnatural positions and movements. Football players are taught to tackle a certain way to avoid brain damage, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to use the appropriate muscles. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and evaluate how to both improve your performance and prevent injury.
  • Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel sudden pain, immediately stop all physical activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous training session, don’t force it.
  • Don’t play through an injury — While gutting it out through pain is often seen as a heroic act among competitors, forcing your body to perform with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could make that injury worse and leave you off the field or court for much longer than if you had sat out at the time of the injury. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, and rehab with a physical therapist to ensure your body heals properly and can handle a return to physical activity.
  • Play by the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules to help prevent injury. Penalties for leading with the helmet in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the presence of bike lanes are examples of rules that leagues enacted to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
  • Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s a good idea to have a medical evaluation before starting another season or starting up a new activity or training regimen. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Arnold, MO is something you should consider. All of our techniques have been proven to help athletes remain healthy, 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 Arnold, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Arnold

Injury Prevention for Older Arnold, MO Adults

Falls in adults over 65 were responsible for over 3 million urgent care admissions and over 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that being physical active is invaluable in preventing falls. Other conditions such as arthritis that accumulate over time can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints healthy. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and optimal posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Arnold, MO include:

Arnold, 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 won’t allow us to experience the same freedom. The knowledgeable Arnold, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to develop your personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body strong and flexible, and your mind confident that you do not have to fear going back to what you love doing most. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits of doing what you do best. Schedule an appointment online or call the location nearest you to discover what our Arnold, MO injury prevention specialists can do for you.

Services Offered

Services Offered
  • Physical Therapy
    • Pre/Post Surgical Rehabilitation
    • Acute Injury Management
    • Chronic Injury Management
  • Work Conditioning/Hardening
  • Functional Capacity Evaluations
  • Sports Physical Therapy
  • Pediatric Orthopedic Physical Therapy
  • Geriatric Physical Therapy
  • Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
  • Spine Specialty – Certified Manual Therapy
  • Free Injury Screenings
  • Kinesio Taping®
  • Blood Flow Restriction Therapy

Our Team

Stephen Brunjes
OTR/L, CEAS
Greg Nicholas
Clinic Director, MPT, CMPT
Jamie Davis
Front Office
Grace Gualtieri
Physical Therapist

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

Injuries and pain shouldn’t keep you from moving and doing the things you love.