Injury Prevention in Catawissa, MO. Whether you’re an athlete trying to get a shot at the next stage, or a recent retiree who wants to spend more time hiking, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our licensed Catawissa, MO physical therapists spend much of their time helping athletes and others recover from injury, we are complete movement health specialists who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to guide you through methods that are proven to reduce the risk of injury by preparing your body for the stressors of your desired activity. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Catawissa, MO residents. We love activities such as playing sports, playing golf, and more. Additionally, keeping an active lifestyle helps prevent chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain diseases, anxiety, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Catawissa, MO physical therapists allow you to come back even stronger after an injury, 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 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 activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a lingering injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Catawissa, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can continue with your active lifestyle, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist today.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Catawissa, MO

Injuries typically happen for one of two reasons:

1. Chronic injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes athletes who use throwing or striking motions and typically are accompanied by joint pain.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen in an instant. Examples include falling or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, for example 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 Catawissa, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally occur because of dysfunction or instability and your body and between body parts. There are three chief causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is crucial to supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can lead to dependency on one set of muscles, which may cause your body to use it in a way it shouldn’t. It also prevents you from having optimal posture, and the weaker muscles will become fatigued sooner, increasing the risk of injury. Muscle imbalance applies to insufficient muscle balance between 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:

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

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

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can result in poor balance and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, causing injury. It can be caused by a variety of musculoskeletal issues. Symptoms include:

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

At our first injury prevention appointment in Catawissa, MO, we’ll discuss your medical records and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, in concert with with your doctor or any other medical professionals treating you, we’ll design a personalized game plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people who sit a lot. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can be affected by postural dysfunction when resting, sitting, or in certain positions related to their sport. Healthy posture refers to proper positioning when both static and moving in a way that encourages our spine to stay in its natural curves. Poor posture can compress the bones of the spine, which interferes with our body’s ability to communicate with itself and reach ideal movement health. Symptoms include:

• 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 you are using your muscles equally, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your vertebrae remain in place.

How to Prevent Injury in Catawissa, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything possible to prevent one. No one precaution is 100% foolproof in injury prevention. However, there are several steps you can take 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, make sure to take one or two days off per week to encourage your body to naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you’re moderately active, take it easy for the few hours after an activity so your body doesn’t become too fatigued.
• Wear protective equipment — Helmets, chest guards, protective eyewear, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries such as cuts or concussions. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Catawissa, MO doctor or injury prevention specialist may suggest braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the affected area. Other techniques like tying your athletic footwear tightly offers further protection.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the force and torque of heavy activity. Our Catawissa, 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.
• Boost flexibility — Stretching contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It boosts your range of motion, which lets for your soft tissue to handle more dramatic movements.
  2. It increases circulation, which allows for nourishing blood to flow to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to heal.
  3. It enhances your 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 basketball that necessitate dynamic movements require muscles and tendons flexible enough to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before games or training further helps prevent injuries.

• 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 perform better but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to reduce the risk of a head injury, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to use the appropriate muscles. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to slow down your movement and educate you on how to both be a better athlete and reduce your risk of injury.
• 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 sudden pain, stop immediately and seek proportional medical care. If your body isn’t feeling up to an intense training session, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though 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 aggravate a current injury and leave you on the sidelines for longer than it originally would have. Depending on the nature of your injury, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, and a series of physical therapy sessions 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 in the interest of safety. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against coming from behind in soccer, and even the existence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are all rules that leagues enacted to keep participants safe. Those were enacted for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Consult a professional physical therapist — It’s a good idea to see a doctor before a new season or committing yourself to any strenuous activity or training regimen. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a professional physical therapist in Catawissa, MO is right for you. 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 Senior Citizens in Catawissa, MO

Falls in senior citizens were responsible for over 3 million emergency room visits and more than 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that physical activity is a great method for preventing falls. Other conditions that limit mobility such as arthritis that accumulate over time can be slowed down by physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints healthy. While seniors typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, appropriate strength, balance, flexibility, and good posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Catawissa, 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

Catawissa, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in in an activity you prepare and train for and love causes a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same freedom. The experienced Catawissa, 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 confident that you can safely return to the activities you love. You deserve to feel the physical and mental health benefits that you do not want to lose. Request an appointment online or call the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention specialists in Catawissa, MO.