Injury Prevention in Dittmer, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, 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 professional Dittmer, 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 body’s current condition and how you move to show you exercises that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or call the location most convenient for you.

Being physically active is vitally important to many Dittmer, MO residents. We love activities like playing sports, hiking, or other physical activities. Additionally, pursuing an active lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, degenerative brain diseases, anxiety, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Dittmer, MO physical therapists help you come back even stronger after an injury, 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 developed uniquely for each client and the activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a nagging injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Dittmer, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can continue with your sport or hobby, keep reading or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Dittmer, MO

Injuries typically fall into two categories:

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 such as tennis or lacrosse players, with joint pain usually being the first warning sign.
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, twisting joints, broken bones, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, such as rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, such as ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

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

While injuries can happen in a variety of circumstances, and are sometimes inescapable, 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 essential to maintaining healthy joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can result in overemphasis for one muscle group, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also causes posture dysfunction, and one set of muscles becoming tired more quickly, making them more susceptible to injuries. Muscle imbalance applies to insufficient 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 result in:

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

Tailored injury prevention with our professional physical therapists in Dittmer, 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 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
• Poor coordination
• Decreased balance

When you initially visit our injury prevention professionals in Dittmer, MO, we’ll discuss your medical records and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, alongside with your doctor or any additional medical professionals involved in your treatment, we’ll develop a personalized game plan been proven to work through research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with desk jobs. People who play sports and others with active lifestyles can have postural dysfunction when at lest, using the computer, or in certain body positions related to their sport. Correct posture means correct alignments when both static and moving 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 attain ideal movement health. It causes injuries through:

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

Good posture is a vital part of injury prevention because it ensures muscle balance, flexibility, and that your vertebrae remain in place.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Dittmer, MO

All sports and physical activities carry an inherent risk of injury. No one precaution is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are things you can do to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• Take breaks — Injuries are more common when you do not give your body time to restore itself. If you’re heavily active, 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, relax for the rest of the day after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Wear the appropriate equipment — Helmets, shin guards, elbow pads, and other required equipment in many sports helps you avoid injuries like lacerations or head injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Dittmer, MO doctor or injury prevention professional may advise braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other methods like tying your shoes tightly can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
• Improve muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them withstand the force and torque of heavy activity. In your customized injury prevention program with our professional Dittmer, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to be able to stay healthy in the activities you love.
• Improve flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It enhances which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which lets for your tendons and ligaments to handle more forceful positions.
  2. It improves blood flow, which allows for protein-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and reinvigorating the muscles.
  3. It enhances your posture, which, as you read earlier, is is one of the most important aspects of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like basketball that include dynamic activities require muscles and tendons flexible enough to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before activities further helps prevent injuries.

• Use accepted 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 improve performance but help prevent injuries. Football players are taught to tackle with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of brain damage, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to make sure their muscles are moving unnaturally. We utilize 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 bothering you, that means that body part is telling your brain that something isn’t right. If you feel sudden pain, stop immediately and seek proportional medical care. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous workout, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — While teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate an athlete that guts it out 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 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, seeing your doctor, and scheduling appointments with a physical therapist to ensure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Follow the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules to help prevent injury. 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. Those were enacted for a reason, and there’s a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
• Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s always advisable to get a physical before a new season or committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. During your physical, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Dittmer, MO is a good idea for you. Every treatment plan we employ has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of injury, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, any previous injuries, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for Older Dittmer, MO Adults

Falls in the elderly were responsible for more than 3 million emergency room visits and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that physical activity can go a long way in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions such as arthritis that develop over the course of several years can be more bearable and take longer to progress 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, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and ideal posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Dittmer, MO include:

• Dry Needling Near Me
• Tendonitis Treatment
• Manual Physical Therapy
• Orthopedic Rehab Near Me
• Beginner Running Program
• Chronic Pain Treatment
• Spine Specialist Near Me
• MCL Injury
• Shoulder Pain

Dittmer, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in something you love doing causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same happiness. The knowledgeable Dittmer, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body prepared for the rigors of physical activity, 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 call the location nearest you to learn more about what our Dittmer, MO injury prevention professionals can do for you.