Injury Prevention in Defiance, MO. Whether you’re an athlete trying to get an opportunity at the next stage, or a recent retiree who wants to dedicate your time to taking ski vacations, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you desire. While our licensed Defiance, 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 movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to show you 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 call the location nearest you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Defiance, MO residents. Many of us participate in activities like playing sports, playing golf, or other physical activities. Furthermore, committing to an active lifestyle helps stave off significant health problems like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, eurodegenerative disease, mental health issues, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Defiance, MO physical therapists help you return to action as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention experts can help keep you active by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our methods, for both healing from and preventing injury, have been prove to work and are personalized to each client and the activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a persistent injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Defiance, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your active lifestyle, read on below or inquire about an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Defiance, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

1. Repetitive demand 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 symptom.
2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include landing on uneven ground 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, such as rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

Why Do Injuries Happen? | Injury Prevention in Defiance, MO

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

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is crucial to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can result in dependency on one muscle group, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. It can also lead to poor posture, and the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher probability of injury. Muscle imbalance applies to poor muscle balance between 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. Muscle imbalance can lead to:

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

Tailored injury prevention with our licensed physical therapists in Defiance, MO will ensure that your muscles are at optimal proportional strength.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body bending in unnatural ways, increasing your risk of injury. It can be caused by numerous musculoskeletal issues. It can lead to:

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

When you first see our injury prevention specialists in Defiance, MO, we’ll go through your medical records and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your doctor or any additional medical professionals involved in your treatment, we’ll develop a customized treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with slouched shoulders. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can suffer from postural dysfunction when lying down, driving, or in certain poses necessary for a given activity. Correct 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 compress the vertebrae, which has a negative affect on our body’s ability to communicate with itself and reach the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. Symptoms include:

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

By guiding you to the best practices for posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring muscle balance, range of motion, and that your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Defiance, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to prevent one. 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 breaks — 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 allow your body to engage in its natural healing and recovery processes. If you have a more moderate activity level, relax for the rest of the day after an activity so your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints become too fatigued.
• Use the right equipment — Helmets, mouth guards, protective eyewear, and other recommended equipment in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries like lacerations or concussions. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Defiance, MO doctor or physical therapist may suggest braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the affected area. Other techniques like tying your athletic footwear tightly offers further protection.
• Increase muscle strength — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the rigors of heavy activity. In your customized injury prevention program with our certified Defiance, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Enhance flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It boosts which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which lets for your tendons and ligaments to handle more dramatic positions.
  2. It enhances blood flow, which allows for protein-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to recover.
  3. It improves your posture, which we already know is an an important part of injury prevention.

  According to research, sports like football that require sudden twists and movements require soft tissue with sufficient flexibility to incorporate and release the high amount of energy required. Also, remember to stretch and warm up before games or training to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use proper technique — In every sport, there are accepted techniques to use. These techniques not only help you perform better but help reduce the risk of injury. 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 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 sore, that’s your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. If you feel a sudden crack or grinding sensation, stop immediately and seek proportional medical care. If your body isn’t feeling up to a particularly rigorous training session, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate a player that plays through pain, playing with soft tissue or structural damage could exacerbate an existing injury and put you out of commission 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 your doctor, and rehab with a physical therapist to ensure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Play by the rules — Many sports have special rules at different levels to help prevent injury. Penalties for helmet to helmet hits in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the existence of bike lanes are examples of rules that leagues enacted to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. Those were enacted for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Speak a professional physical therapist — It’s a good idea to have a medical evaluation 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 Defiance, MO is something you should consider. Every treatment plan we employ has been proven to help athletes remain healthy, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to your age, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for Older Defiance, MO Adults

Falls in senior citizens were responsible for more than 3 million emergency room admissions and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that being physical active is invaluable in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions that limit mobility like arthritis that accumulate over time can be effectively managed 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, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and correct posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Defiance, MO include:

• Shoulder Pain
• Mobility
• Knee Injury
• Joint Pain
• Sciatica
• Dry Needling
• ACL Tear
• Pain Management
• Rotator Cuff Tear

Defiance, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in one of your favorite activities causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same freedom. The licensed Defiance, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to design for you a personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body prepared for the rigors of physical activity, 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 once valued so much. Request an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention experts in Defiance, MO.