Injury Prevention in Desoto, MO. Whether you play a sport and are trying to get an opportunity at the next stage, or a recent retiree who wants to spend more time taking ski vacations, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our certified Desoto, 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 body’s current condition and how you move to teach out methods that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or reach out to the location nearest you.

Being physically active is vitally important to many Desoto, MO residents. We love activities like playing sports, kayaking, or other physical activities. Furthermore, committing to an active lifestyle reduces the risk of serious health problems like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia, depression, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Desoto, MO physical therapists help you return to action even stronger after an injury, but our injury prevention specialists can help keep you active by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our treatment plans, for both recovery and injury prevention, are proven to be effective and are developed uniquely for each client and the activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a nagging injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Desoto, MO for a free injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your active lifestyle, keep reading or inquire about an appointment today.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Desoto, MO

Most injuries fall into two categories:

1. Repetitive motion 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, with joint pain usually being the first symptom.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen because of a specific and sudden trauma. Examples include falling or a sudden impact by an object or another person. 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, such as ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with a sudden impact to the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Desoto, MO

While injuries can happen in a variety of circumstances, and are sometimes inescapable, they generally occur because your muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, and joints cannot hold up under the force, torque, or stretching that they are subjected to in a given movement or collision. There are three chief causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is crucial to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can result in dependency on one set of muscles, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. It also causes posture dysfunction, 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 chest and weak back, or within muscle groups, such as the four muscles in the rotator cuff not having proportionate strength. Muscle imbalance can lead to:

• Muscle weakness
• Muscle inflexibility
• Poor muscle recruitment
• Coordination deficiency

Customized injury prevention with our licensed physical therapists in Desoto, 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 moving in unnatural ways, increasing your risk of injury. It can be caused by many different musculoskeletal issues. It can lead to:

• Joint mobility limitations
• Muscle imbalance
• Coordination deficits
• Lessened balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Desoto, MO, we’ll go through your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, in tandem with with your doctor or any additional medical professionals involved in your treatment, we’ll come up with a tailored treatment plan been proven to work through research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people who spend a lot of time doing the same activity. Athletes and other physically active people can suffer from postural dysfunction when at lest, using the computer, or in specific poses they need to be in for a given activity. Correct posture means correct 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 disrupts our body’s internal communications and makes it challenging to attain optimal motion health. It can also lead to:

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

By helping you understand ideal posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring muscle balance, flexibility, and that your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Desoto, MO

All sports and physical activities carry an inherent risk of injury. We cannot promise that our injury prevention program completely negates the risk of injury. However, there are precautions to make sure your body is strong and flexible enough for your desired activity level:

• Take a rest — 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, relax for the rest of the day after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Use protective equipment — Helmets, chest guards, elbow pads, and other required equipment in many sports can help prevent injuries like contusions or concussions. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Desoto, MO doctor or injury prevention specialist may suggest stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other measures like tying your shoes tightly offers further protection.
• 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 knowledgeable Desoto, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to be able to avoid injury in the activities you love.
• Enhance flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It increases your range of motion, which lets for your tendons and ligaments to handle more dramatic movements.
  2. It enhances blood flow, which carries nourishing blood to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and re-energizing the muscles.
  3. It improves your posture, which we already know is an is one of the most important factors of injury prevention.

  According to research, sports like soccer that require sudden twists and movements require soft tissue flexible enough to perform those movements. Also, don’t forget to stretch and warm up before games or training to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use proper technique — In every physical activity, there is an accepted way to position and move your body. These techniques not only help you perform better but help prevent injuries. Football players are taught to tackle with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of brain damage, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to break down your movement and evaluate how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel a sudden pop or grinding sensation, immediately withdraw from the activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t holing up well in a particularly rigorous workout, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — While teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate an athlete that plays through pain, forcing your body to perform with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could exacerbate a current injury and put you out of commission for much longer than you would have been sitting out. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting your doctor, and a series of physical therapy sessions to ensure your body heals naturally and can handle a return to physical activity.
• Follow the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules to reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the existence of bike lanes are all rules that were adopted to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
• Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s always advisable to get a physical before starting another season or starting up a new activity or training regimen. While there, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a professional physical therapist in Desoto, MO is something you should consider. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, any previous injuries, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Desoto, MO

Falls in the elderly accounted for more than 3 million urgent care admissions and more than 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that physical activity is invaluable in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions that limit mobility such as 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, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and good posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Desoto, 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

Desoto, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in something you love doing can create a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same exultation. The licensed Desoto, 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 at ease that you can safely return to the activities you love. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits of doing what you do best. Request an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention specialists in Desoto, MO.