Cedar Hill, MO

Cedar Hill, MO

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

Injury Prevention in Cedar Hill, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or a recent retiree who wants to spend more time hiking, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our professional Cedar Hill, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to heal after an injury, we are experts in the entire musculoskeletal system who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to teach out methods that are proven to prevent injury. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location most convenient for you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Cedar Hill, MO people’s lives. We love activities like playing sports, hiking, or other physical activities. Additionally, committing to an active lifestyle helps prevent significant health problems such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain diseases, anxiety, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Cedar Hill, MO physical therapists allow you to come back and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention specialists can help keep you active by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our treatment plans, 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 nagging injury that won’t heal on its own, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Cedar Hill, MO for a complimentary 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 Cedar Hill, MO

Injuries generally happen for one of two reasons:

  1. Chronic injuries are injuries that occur when a part of the body repeats the same motion time and time again. They are common in overhead athletes athletes who are required to repeat throwing or striking motions and typically reveal themselves with joint pain.
  2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include falling 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, almost always occur spontaneously, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

Injury Prevention Cedar Hill, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Cedar Hill

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Cedar Hill, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally occur because of dysfunction or imbalance and your body and between body parts. There are three common dysfunctions that lead to injury:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to maintaining healthy joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can lead to dependency on one set of muscles, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also prevents you from having ideal posture, and the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher probability of injury. Muscle imbalance can refer to poor muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong bicep and weak tricep, or in the same muscle group, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Symptoms include:

Tailored injury prevention with our experienced physical therapists in Cedar Hill, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can result in poor balance and lead to your body bending in unnatural ways, causing injury. It can be caused by numerous musculoskeletal issues. Symptoms include:

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

At our first injury prevention appointment in Cedar Hill, MO, we’ll evaluate your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, in tandem with with your doctor or any additional providers treating you, we’ll develop a customized 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 sit a lot. People who play sports and other physically active people can be affected by postural dysfunction when at lest, using the computer, or in specific body positions related to a given activity. Good posture means correct alignments when both static and moving in a way that keeps the spine within its natural curves. Poor posture can compress the bones of the spine, which disrupts our body’s internal communications and makes it harder to reach ideal movement health. Symptoms include:

  • Muscle weakness
  • Muscle imbalance
  • Poor positioning
  • Joint mobility limitations
  • 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 can be improved and maintained, and your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.



How to Prevent Injury in Cedar Hill, MO

All sports and physical activities can potentially lead to an injury. We cannot promise that our injury prevention program completely negates the risk of injury. However, there are several steps you can take 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 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 have a more modest activity level, rest for the rest of the day after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
  • Use protective equipment — Helmets, chin straps, safety pads and guards, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries like contusions or head injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Cedar Hill, MO physician or physical therapist may recommend braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further stabilization.
  • Strengthen muscles — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the rigors necessary for in sports and other activities. In your customized injury prevention program with our licensed Cedar Hill, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you love.
  • Boost flexibility — Stretching contributes to injury prevention in three way:
    1. It improves your range of motion, which lets for your soft tissue to handle more pronounced movements.
    2. It increases circulation, which carries nutrient-rich blood to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and rebuilding the muscles.
    3. It encourages good posture, which, as you read earlier, is an important part of injury prevention.

    According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like football that include dynamic activities 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 — In every physical activity, there is an accepted way to position and move your body. These techniques not only help you get be the best athlete you can be but help prevent injuries by not forcing your body into unnatural positions and movements. Football players are taught to tackle with the shoulder in order to avoid a concussion, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best apply torque to your body. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and analyze 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, that means that body part is telling your brain that something isn’t right. If you feel something suddenly that doesn’t feel right, immediately withdraw from the activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t feeling up to a particularly rigorous training session, save it for another day.
  • Don’t play through an injury — Even though teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate an athlete that guts it out through pain, forcing your body to perform with soft tissue or structural damage could make that injury worse and leave you on the sidelines 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, visiting an emergency room, and scheduling appointments with a physical therapist to make sure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
  • Follow the rules — Most sports have special rules at different levels in the interest of safety. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the presence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers 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 violations of those rules are punished.
  • Speak a professional physical therapist — It’s a good idea to get a physical before a new season or committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. While there, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Cedar Hill, MO is something you should consider. All of our techniques have been proven to reduce the risk of injury, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, any previous injuries, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention Cedar Hill, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Cedar Hill

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Cedar Hill, MO

Falls in adults over 65 accounted for more than 3 million emergency room admissions and more than 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that physical activity is a great method for reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like 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, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and correct posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Cedar Hill, MO include:

Cedar Hill, 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 won’t allow us to experience the same elation. The licensed Cedar Hill, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own 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. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits that you do not want to lose. Make an appointment online or contact the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention specialists in Cedar Hill, MO.

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.