Barretts, MO

Barretts, MO

Don't let a mental block over reinjury prevent you from participating in the activities you love.

Injury Prevention in Barretts, MO. Whether you play a sport and are trying to get an opportunity at the next level, or a recent retiree who wants to dedicate your time to hiking, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our professional Barretts, 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 measures that are proven to reduce the risk of injury by preparing your body for the stressors of your desired activity. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Physical activity is an essential part of many Barretts, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in activities like playing sports, hiking, and more. Additionally, keeping an active lifestyle helps stave off chronic conditions including 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 Barretts, MO physical therapists help you come back as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention specialists can help you reduce the risk of further injury 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 suffered an injury, or have a persistent injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Barretts, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your sport or hobby, keep reading or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Barretts, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

  1. Repetitive demand 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 athletes who are required to repeat throwing or striking motions, with joint pain usually being the first indicator.
  2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include landing on uneven ground or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, broken bones, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, such as rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, like ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with a sudden impact to the knee.

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

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Barretts, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, 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 common dysfunctions that lead to injury:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to maintaining healthy joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can cause an overreliance on one set of muscles, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It can also lead to poor posture, and the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher likelihood of injury. Injuries can be caused by poor 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. Muscle imbalance can result in:

Customized injury prevention with our certified physical therapists in Barretts, MO will ensure that different muscles and muscle groups are equally strong.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can result in poor balance and lead to your body bending in ways it is not designed to, increasing your risk of injury. It can be caused by many different musculoskeletal issues. Symptoms include:

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

When you initially see our injury prevention experts in Barretts, MO, we’ll evaluate your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your doctor or any additional medical professionals involved in your treatment, we’ll develop a customized 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 who sit a lot. People who play sports and others with active lifestyles can be affected by postural dysfunction when lying down, sitting, or in certain body positions necessary for a given activity. Good posture means correct alignments of your body from your head to your toes in a way that keeps the spine within its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the joints in the spine closer together, which has a negative affect on our body’s ability to communicate with itself and achieve optimal movement health. Symptoms include:

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

Good posture is a necessary part of injury prevention because it ensures 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 Techniques in Barretts, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything possible to reduce that risk. No one safety tip is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are things you can do to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

  • Take breaks — Injuries are more common when you do not give your body time to restore itself. If you have a very high activity level, one or two rest days a week will encourage your body to naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you’re moderately active, rest for the rest of the day after an activity so your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints become too fatigued.
  • Use protective equipment — Helmets, chest guards, protective eyewear, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries such as cuts or brain injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Barretts, MO physician or injury prevention specialist may fit you for stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other techniques like making sure all the equipment is snug can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
  • Increase muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them withstand the force and torque of heavy activity. Our Barretts, MO injury prevention professionals will work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the smaller muscles needed to safely participate in the activities you love.
  • Improve flexibility — Stretching contributes to injury prevention in three way:
    1. It improves which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which lets for your soft tissue to adapt to more drastic movements.
    2. It increases circulation, which allows for protein-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to heal.
    3. It enhances your posture, which we already know is an an important part of injury prevention.

    According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like football that include dynamic motions require muscles and tendons flexible enough to store and release the high levels of energy required. Stretching and warm up exercises before activities further helps prevent injuries.

  • Use accepted 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 player you can be but help prevent injuries. Football players learn to tackle with the shoulder in order to avoid a concussion, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and evaluate how to both improve your performance and prevent injury.
  • Listen to your body — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, that means that body part is telling your brain that something is wrong. If you feel something suddenly that doesn’t feel right, immediately stop all physical activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t feeling up to a particularly rigorous training session, don’t force it.
  • Don’t play through an injury — Even though gritting through pain is often seen as commendable among competitors, forcing your body to perform with soft tissue or structural damage could make that injury worse and put you out of commission for longer than it originally would have. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, seeing an emergency room, and a series of physical therapy sessions to ensure your body heals naturally and can withstand a return to physical activity.
  • Follow the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules in the interest of safety. Penalties for helmet to helmet hits in football, rules against head-first sliding in baseball, and even the presence of bike lanes are all rules put in place to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
  • Speak a professional 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. During your physical, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a expert physical therapist in Barretts, MO is right for you. 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, your injury history, and how physically active you wish to be.

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

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Barretts, MO

Falls in adults over 65 accounted for over 3 million urgent care admissions and more than 34,000 fatalities. Studies show that being physical active can go a long way in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be slowed down by physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints active. While the physical demands for seniors may not be as high as an athlete, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and good posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Barretts, MO include:

Barretts, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love can lead to a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same joy. The professional Barretts, 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 confident that you can safely return to the activities you love doing most. You deserve to feel the physical and mental health benefits that you do not want to lose. Request an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to learn more about what our Barretts, 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
  • DorsaVi Video Motion Analysis
  • Vestibular Therapy and Post-Concussion Rehabilitation
  • Trigger Point Dry Needling
  • Free Injury Screenings
  • Kinesio Taping®
  • Blood Flow Restriction Therapy

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

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