Injury Prevention in Byrnes Mill, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to improve your performance, or you just retired and want to spend more time hiking, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our licensed Byrnes Mill, MO physical therapists spend much of their time helping athletes and others recover from injury, we are experts in the entire musculoskeletal system who can evaluate your body’s current condition and how you move to show you techniques that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or reach out to the location most convenient for you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Byrnes Mill, MO residents. Many of us participate in activities such as playing sports, swimming, and more. Additionally, pursuing an active lifestyle helps stave off significant health problems including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, degenerative brain diseases, anxiety, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Byrnes Mill, MO physical therapists allow you to return to action as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention professionals can help you reduce the risk of further injury by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our treatment plans, for both recovery and injury prevention, are based on evidence-backed techniques and are developed uniquely for each client and the activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a lingering injury that just won’t go away, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Byrnes Mill, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can keep up with your active lifestyle, keep reading or inquire about an appointment today.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Byrnes Mill, MO

Injuries generally happen for one of two reasons:

1. Wear-and-tear injuries are injuries happen gradually as a body part degrades because of repetitive movements. They are common in overhead athletes such as softball or soccer goalies, with joint pain usually being the first symptom.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen because of a specific and sudden trauma. Examples include landing on uneven ground or receiving a blow. 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 result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Byrnes Mill, 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 crucial to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can cause overemphasis for one set of muscles, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It can also lead to poor posture, and the weaker muscles will become tired more quickly, making them more susceptible to injuries. Muscle imbalance can refer to inadequate muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong hamstring and weak quadriceps, or within muscle groups, such as the four muscles in the rotator cuff having different levels of strength. Symptoms include:

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

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

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
• Reduced balance

When you first see our injury prevention specialists in Byrnes Mill, MO, we’ll go through your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your physician or any other medical professionals treating you, we’ll devise a tailored game plan been proven to work by 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 have postural dysfunction when at lest, using the computer, or in certain stances they need to be in for a given activity. Correct posture means correct alignments of the neck, torso, pelvis, and extremities in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the vertebrae closer together, which has a negative affect on our body’s ability to communicate with itself and attain ideal motion health. It causes injuries through:

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

By helping you understand ideal 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 spine is in its natural position.

Injury Prevention Methods in Byrnes Mill, 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 things you can do to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• Take a rest — Injuries are more common when you do not give your body time to restore itself. If you’re heavily active, make sure to take one or two days off per week to encourage your body to engage in its natural healing and recovery processes. If you have a more moderate activity level, take a break for the few hours after an activity so your body doesn’t become too fatigued.
• Wear protective equipment — Helmets, shin guards, safety pads and guards, and other required equipment in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries like contusions or brain injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Byrnes Mill, MO doctor or physical therapist may fit you for stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other methods like making sure all the equipment is snug can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the force and torque necessary for in sports and other activities. In your personalized injury prevention program with our knowledgeable Byrnes Mill, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Boost flexibility — Increasing your flexibility accomplishes three critical things for injury prevention:
  1. It improves your range of motion, which lets for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to adapt to more drastic movements.
  2. It improves circulation, which carries nutrient-rich blood to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and rebuilding the muscles.
  3. It boosts your posture, which we already know is an is one of the most important aspects of injury prevention.

  According to studies, sports like football that necessitate sudden twists and movements require soft tissue with sufficient flexibility to store and exert the high levels of energy required. Stretching and warm up exercises before games or training further helps prevent injuries.

• 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 reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to avoid brain damage, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to make sure their muscles are moving unnaturally. We utilize 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 a part of your body is bothering you, that’s your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. If you feel a sudden pop or grinding sensation, immediately stop all physical 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 teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate a player that guts it out through pain, forcing your body to perform with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could exacerbate a current injury and leave you on the sidelines for much longer than you would have been sitting out. Depending on the severity of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, seeing urgent care, and a series of physical therapy sessions to ensure your body heals properly and can withstand 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 reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for helmet to helmet hits in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the existence of bike lanes are all rules that leagues enacted to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Speak a professional physical therapist — It’s a good idea to see a doctor before another season begins or starting up a new activity or training regimen. During your visit, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a knowledgeable physical therapist in Byrnes Mill, MO is right for you. All of our techniques have been proven to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, any previous injuries, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Byrnes Mill, MO

Falls in adults over 65 accounted for more than 3 million urgent care admissions and over 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that physical activity can go a long way in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints active. While older adults typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, appropriate strength, balance, flexibility, and correct posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Byrnes Mill, 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

Byrnes Mill, 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 freedom. The licensed Byrnes Mill, 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. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits that you once valued so much. Request an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to find out more about what our Byrnes Mill, MO injury prevention specialists can do for you.