Dellwood, MO

Dellwood, MO

Don't let the fear of reinjury prevent you from participating in the things what you do best.

Injury Prevention in Dellwood, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to improve your performance, or a recent retiree who wants to dedicate your time to hiking, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you desire. While our professional Dellwood, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to 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. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or call the location nearest you.

Being physically active is vitally important to many Dellwood, MO residents. Many of us participate in activities such as playing sports, kayaking, and more. Additionally, keeping an active lifestyle helps prevent serious health problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia, depression, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Dellwood, 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, both when helping restore motion health and when looking to improve it, have been prove to work and are customized for each client and the activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a persistent injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Dellwood, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your sport or hobby, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Dellwood, MO

Injuries generally fall into two categories:

  1. Chronic injuries are injuries happen gradually as a body part degrades because of repetitive movements. They are common in overhead athletes athletes who use throwing or striking motions and typically manifest themselves as joint pain.
  2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include landing on uneven ground or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, broken bones, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, for example rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, such as ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

Injury Prevention Dellwood, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Dellwood

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Dellwood, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally happen 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 crucial to supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can result in overemphasis for one set of muscles, 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 muscles will become fatigued more quickly, making them more susceptible to injuries. Injuries can be caused by insufficient muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong hamstring and weak quadriceps, or within muscle groups, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Muscle imbalance can lead to:

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

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body moving in unnatural ways, causing injury. It can be caused by a variety of musculoskeletal issues. It can lead to:

  • Joint mobility limitations
  • Muscle imbalance
  • Coordination deficiency
  • Decreased balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Dellwood, MO, we’ll discuss your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, alongside with your doctor or any other providers involved in your treatment, we’ll come up with a personalized plan of attack based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people who spend a lot of time doing the same activity. People who play sports and other physically active people can have postural dysfunction when lying down, driving, or in certain stances necessary for their sport. Optimal posture means correct positioning of your body from your head to your toes in a way that encourages our spine to stay in its natural curves. Poor posture can compress the joints in the spine, which disrupts our body’s internal communications and makes it harder to attain the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. Symptoms include:

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

Good posture is an important part of injury prevention because it ensures muscle balance, flexibility, and that your spine is in its natural position.



Injury Prevention Methods in Dellwood, 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 make sure your body is prepared for your desired activity level:

  • 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, one or two rest days a week will signal to your body to engage in its natural healing processes. If you have a more modest activity level, relax for the rest of the day after an activity so your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints become too fatigued.
  • Use the correct equipment — Helmets, chin straps, protective eyewear, and other required equipment in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries such as rashes or head injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Dellwood, MO physician or physical therapist may recommend braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize a joint. Other methods like making sure all the equipment is snug can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
  • Increase muscle strength — Strengthening soft tissue helps it withstand the force and torque of heavy activity. Our Dellwood, MO injury prevention professionals will work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the smaller muscles needed to be able to stay healthy in the activities you want to participate in.
  • Increase flexibility — Increasing your flexibility achieves three important things for injury prevention:
    1. It boosts your range of motion, which lets for your soft tissue to handle more forceful positions.
    2. It boosts blood flow, which carries nourishing blood to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to restore themselves.
    3. It increases your posture, which we already know is an an important part of injury prevention.

    According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like soccer that require sudden twists and movements require soft tissue compliant enough to perform those movements. Also, it’s important to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

  • 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 are taught to tackle with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of a concussion, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to make sure their muscles are moving unnaturally. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to break down your movement and educate you on how to improve it.
  • Listen to your body — 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 sudden pain, immediately stop all physical activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. 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 gutting it out through pain is often viewed as commendable among competitors, playing with soft tissue or structural damage could make that injury worse and leave you on the sidelines for much longer than if you had sat out at the time of the injury. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, seeing an emergency room, and scheduling appointments with a physical therapist to ensure your body heals properly and can handle the activity you want to return to.
  • Follow 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 bike lanes are all rules that were adopted to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that there are penalties for them.
  • Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s a good idea to see a doctor before another season begins or starting up a new physical activity. During your visit, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a knowledgeable physical therapist in Dellwood, MO is something you should consider. All of our techniques have been proven to reduce the risk of injury, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to how old you are, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention Dellwood, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Dellwood

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Dellwood, MO

Falls in senior citizens accounted for over 3 million urgent care visits and more than 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that being physical active is invaluable in preventing falls. Other conditions such as arthritis that accumulate over time can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints active. While the physical demands for seniors may not be as high as an athlete, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and ideal posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Dellwood, MO include:

Dellwood, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same happiness. The professional Dellwood, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to develop your 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 doing most. You deserve to feel the physical and mental health benefits that you do not want to lose. Make an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention professionals in Dellwood, MO.

Services Offered

Services Offered
  • Physical Therapy
    • Pre/Post Surgical Rehabilitation
    • Acute Injury Management
    • Chronic Injury Management
  • Certified Hand Therapy
  • Work Conditioning/Hardening
  • Functional Capacity Evaluations
  • Sports Physical Therapy
  • Pediatric Orthopedic Physical Therapy
  • Geriatric Physical Therapy
  • Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
  • Free Injury Screenings
  • Kinesio Taping®
  • Blood Flow Restriction Therapy
  • Spine Specialty

Our Team

Sara Crain
PT, CEAS, Astym Cert.
Brandi Arndt
MPT, CMPT
Brett Shelton
PT, DPT, OCS, COMT, CSMT
John Teepe
Partner, MPT
TJ Jung
PT, DPT
Justin Bridwell
Front Office
Chris Casner
PT, Clinic Director

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

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