Crystal City, MO

Crystal City, MO

Don't let the fear of reinjury keep you from the things what you do best.

Injury Prevention in Crystal City, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to improve your performance, 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 certified Crystal City, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to recover from injury, we are experts in the entire musculoskeletal system who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to guide you through techniques that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Crystal City, MO residents. We love activities such as playing sports, playing golf, and more. Furthermore, committing to an active lifestyle reduces the risk of significant health problems including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain diseases, mental health issues, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Crystal City, MO physical therapists allow you to come back as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention professionals can help you reduce the risk of further injury by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our treatment plans, for both recovery and injury prevention, have been prove to work and are personalized to each client and the level of activity they want to reach.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a lingering injury that won’t heal on its own, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Crystal City, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can keep up with your active lifestyle, read on below or inquire about an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Crystal City, MO

Injuries typically happen for one of two reasons:

  1. Repetitive motion injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. They are common in overhead athletes athletes who are required to repeat throwing or striking motions, with joint pain usually being the first warning sign.
  2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen because of a specific and sudden trauma. 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, for example rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, like ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

Injury Prevention Crystal City, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Crystal City

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Crystal City, MO

While injuries can happen in a variety of circumstances, and some are inescapable, they generally happen because your soft tissue, 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 supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can lead to dependency on one muscle group, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also causes posture dysfunction, and the weaker muscles will become tired faster, making them more susceptible to injuries. Muscle imbalance applies to insufficient 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 the four muscles in the rotator cuff not having proportionate strength. Muscle imbalance can result in:

Customized injury prevention with our professional physical therapists in Crystal City, 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. It can lead to:

  • Joint mobility restrictions
  • Muscle imbalance
  • Coordination deficiency
  • Lessened balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Crystal City, MO, we’ll discuss your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, together with your doctor or any other providers treating you, we’ll design a tailored game plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your movement health to the level you need it to to do what you love.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people with desk jobs. People who play sports and others with active lifestyles can suffer from postural dysfunction when resting, sitting, or in specific positions necessary for their sport. Healthy posture means proper positioning when both static and moving in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can compact the joints in the spine, which disrupts communication between your brain and body and makes it challenging to achieve optimal movement health. It can also lead to:

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

Good posture is a vital part of injury prevention because it ensures you are using your muscles equally, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your spine is in its natural position.



How to Prevent Injury in Crystal City, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything possible to reduce that risk. No one technique is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are several steps you can take to make sure your body is prepared for your desired activity level:

  • 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 signal to 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 body doesn’t become too fatigued.
  • Use the right equipment — Helmets, shin guards, elbow pads, and other required equipment in many sports helps you avoid injuries such as bruises or brain injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or muscle, tendon, or ligament, your Crystal City, MO doctor or injury prevention professional may advise stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other techniques like tying your athletic footwear tightly can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
  • Strengthen muscles — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the rigors of heavy activity. In your personalized injury prevention program with our licensed Crystal City, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the smaller muscles needed to be able to stay healthy in the activities you love.
  • Boost 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 allows for your soft tissue to adapt to more pronounced movements.
    2. It enhances blood flow, which carries protein-rich blood to your muscles, eliminating waste byproduct and rebuilding the muscles.
    3. It improves your posture, which, as we’ve discussed, is an important part of injury prevention.

    According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like soccer that require bouncing and jumping require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before games or training further helps prevent injuries.

  • Use correct 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. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to reduce the risk of a head injury, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best apply torque to your body. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to break down your movement and evaluate how to both improve your performance and reduce your risk of injury.
  • Listen to your body — If a part of your body is sore, that’s your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. If you feel sudden pain, immediately withdraw from the activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t holing up well in an intense training session, don’t force it.
  • Don’t play through an injury — While gritting 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 an existing injury and leave you on the sidelines for longer than it originally would have. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, visiting your doctor, and rehab with a physical therapist to make sure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
  • Play by the rules — Most sports have special rules at different levels in the interest of safety. Penalties for leading with the helmet in football, rules against coming from behind in soccer, and even the presence of bike lanes are examples of rules put in place to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
  • Consult a licensed physical therapist — It’s in your best interest to have a medical evaluation before another season begins or committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. While there, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a expert physical therapist in Crystal City, MO is right for you. Every treatment plan we employ has been demonstrated to help athletes remain healthy, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to your age, your injury history, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention Crystal City, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Crystal City

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Crystal City, MO

Falls in adults over 65 were responsible for more than 3 million emergency room admissions and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that being physical active is invaluable in preventing falls. Other conditions like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints active. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, appropriate strength, stability, flexibility, and ideal posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Crystal City, MO include:

Crystal City, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in something you love doing can lead to a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same elation. The licensed Crystal City, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body as safe and healthy as can be, and your mind at ease 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 of doing what you do best. Make an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to learn more about what our Crystal City, MO injury prevention specialists can do for you.

Services Offered

Services Offered
  • Physical Therapy
    • Pre/Post Surgical Rehabilitation
    • Acute Injury Management
    • Chronic Injury Management
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Advanced Work Rehabilitation
  • Work Conditioning/Hardening
  • Functional Capacity Evaluations
  • Certified Hand Therapy
  • Vestibular Therapy/Concussion Management
  • Trigger Point Dry Needling
  • Sports Physical Therapy
  • Pediatric Orthopedic Physical Therapy
  • Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
  • Spine Specialty – Certified Manual Therapy
  • Free Injury Screenings
  • Kinesio Taping®
  • Blood Flow Restriction Therapy

Our Team

Stephen Brunjes
OTR/L, CEAS
Mary McKinney
Front Office
Kaila Mikesch
Clinic Director, PT, DPT, CMPT
Eric Meyer
Assistant Clinic Director, PT, DPT, CMPT
Ernie Goddard
Partner, PT
Natalie Carter
PT, DPT, Astym. Cert.
Emma Witte
PTA, ASTYM Cert.
Kelly Barnes
Physical Therapist
Jennifer Zweigart
Front Office
Shannon Blum
PTA, ATC

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

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