Injury Prevention in Barretts, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to improve your performance, or you just retired and want to spend more time camping, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our licensed Barretts, MO physical therapists spend much of their time helping athletes and others heal after an injury, we are complete movement health specialists who can evaluate your body’s current condition and how you move to teach out methods that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Barretts, MO people’s lives. We love activities such as playing sports, playing golf, or other physical activities. Furthermore, keeping an active lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Barretts, MO physical therapists help you return to action and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention experts 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 customized for each client and the level of activity they want to reach.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a persistent injury that just won’t go away, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Barretts, MO for a free injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and ensure that you can continue with your sport or hobby, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Barretts, MO

Injuries typically fall into two categories:

1. Repetitive motion 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, with joint pain usually being the first symptom.
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 common injuries, like rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, such as ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with a sudden impact to the knee.

Why Do Injuries Happen? | 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 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 key to maintaining healthy joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can lead to dependency on one muscle group, which may cause your body to use it in a way it shouldn’t. It also causes posture dysfunction, 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 insufficient muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong bicep and weak tricep, or within muscle groups, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Symptoms include:

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

Tailored injury prevention with our knowledgeable 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, causing injury. Neurological issues, swelling, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. It can cause injury through:

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

At our first injury prevention appointment in Barretts, MO, we’ll discuss your medical records and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, in tandem with with your doctor or any other providers treating you, we’ll create a personalized treatment plan been proven to work by research and studies to get your movement health to the level you need it to to do what you love.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with desk jobs. Athletes and other physically active people can suffer from postural dysfunction when lying down, driving, or in specific body positions necessary for their sport. Healthy posture means proper positioning of the different joints and muscles of your body 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 our body’s internal communications and makes it difficult to attain the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. It can also lead to:

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

By helping you understand good posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring muscle balance, flexibility, and that your spine is in its natural position.

Injury Prevention Methods in Barretts, MO

All sports and physical activities carry an inherent risk of injury. We cannot promise that our injury prevention program completely negates the risk of injury. However, there are precautions to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• 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 have a more modest activity level, take it easy after activity so your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints become too fatigued.
• Use the appropriate equipment — Helmets, shin guards, safety pads and guards, and other required equipment in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries such as cuts or brain injuries. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Barretts, MO doctor or injury prevention specialist may advise braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the affected area. Other methods like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further protection.
• Boost muscle strength — Strengthening soft tissue helps it withstand the rigors necessary for in sports and other activities. In your personalized injury prevention program with our professional Barretts, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you want to participate in.
• Boost 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 adapt to more forceful movements.
  2. It boosts circulation, which carries nourishing blood to your muscles, eliminating waste byproduct and reinvigorating the muscles.
  3. It encourages good posture, which we already know is an an important part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like basketball that include sudden twists and movements require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to perform those movements. Also, don’t forget to stretch and warm up before games or training to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use accepted technique — Through the years, each sport and physical activity develops a consensus of the best ways to position and move your body. These techniques not only help you perform better but help prevent injuries by not forcing your body into unnatural positions and movements. Football players learn to tackle with the shoulder in order to avoid a concussion, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to use the appropriate muscles. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to slow down your movement and evaluate how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, that’s your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. If you feel something suddenly that doesn’t feel right, immediately stop all physical activity and seek proportional medical care. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous training session, don’t force it.
• 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 an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could aggravate a current injury and leave you on the sidelines for much longer than if you had sat out at the time of the injury. Depending on the severity of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting urgent care, and rehab with a physical therapist to make sure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Play by the rules — Many sports have special rules at different levels 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 that were adopted to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. Those are in place for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Consult a licensed physical therapist — It’s in your best interest to get a physical before a new season or starting up a new activity or training regimen. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a expert physical therapist in Barretts, MO is something you should consider. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, your injury history, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Barretts, MO

Falls in the elderly accounted for over 3 million emergency room admissions and more than 34,000 fatalities. Studies show that being physical active is a great method for preventing falls. Other conditions such as arthritis that accumulate over time can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints strong. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, appropriate strength, balance, flexibility, and proper posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Barretts, 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

Barretts, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in something you love doing causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same exultation. The experienced Barretts, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to develop your personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body prepared for the rigors of physical activity, and your mind at ease that you can safely return to the activities you love. You deserve to feel the physical and mental health benefits of doing what you do best. Make an appointment online or call the location nearest you to see what our Barretts, MO injury prevention specialists can do for you.