Injury Prevention in Dutzow, MO. Whether you play a sport and are hoping for a shot at the next stage, or you just retired and want to dedicate your time to being physical fit, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our certified Dutzow, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to heal after an injury, we are complete movement health specialists who can evaluate your body’s current condition and how you move to show you methods that are proven to prevent injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location most convenient for you.

Physical activity is an essential part of many Dutzow, MO people’s lives. We love active endeavors such as playing sports, kayaking, and more. Furthermore, keeping an active lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, eurodegenerative disease, mental health issues, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Dutzow, MO physical therapists allow you to come back and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention experts can help keep you active by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our treatment plans, for both recovery and injury prevention, are proven to be effective 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 Dutzow, MO for a free injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can keep up 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 Dutzow, MO

Most injuries fall into two categories:

1. Wear-and-tear injuries are injuries happen gradually as a body part degrades because of repetitive movements. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes such as baseball or lacrosse players, with joint pain usually being the first indicator.
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, fractures, and dislocations.

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

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Dutzow, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally occur 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 essential to supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can cause overemphasis for one muscle group, which may cause your body to use it in a way it shouldn’t. It also causes posture dysfunction, and one set of muscles becoming fatigued faster, making them more susceptible to injuries. Injuries can be caused by inadequate muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong chest and weak back, or in the same muscle group, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Symptoms include:

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

Customized injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Dutzow, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

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 a range of musculoskeletal issues. It can lead to:

• Joint mobility restrictions
• Muscle imbalance
• Poor coordination
• Reduced balance

When you initially visit our injury prevention specialists in Dutzow, MO, we’ll go through your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, together with your physician or any additional medical professionals involved in your care, we’ll create a tailored treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your movement health to reach its potential.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people who spend a lot of time in the same position. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can be affected by postural dysfunction when at lest, using the computer, or in specific positions necessary for a given activity. Optimal posture means proper alignments 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 bring the joints in the spine closer together, which disrupts communication between your brain and body and makes it challenging to attain the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. It causes injuries through:

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

By teaching you the best practices for posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring you are using the right muscles for the right movements, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your spine is in its natural position.

How to Prevent Injury in Dutzow, 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 precautions to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• Take a rest — Injuries are more common in overworked bodies. If you’re heavily active, 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 modest activity level, relax for the rest of the day after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Use protective equipment — Helmets, mouth guards, safety pads and guards, and other required equipment in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries such as contusions or brain injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Dutzow, MO physician or injury prevention professional may suggest stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further stabilization.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the force and torque necessary for in sports and other activities. Our Dutzow, MO injury prevention professionals will work to build up your body to be able to stay healthy in the activities you want to participate in.
• Enhance 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 the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to handle more pronounced movements.
  2. It enhances circulation, which carries protein-rich blood to your muscles, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to heal.
  3. It increases your posture, which, as you read earlier, is an essential part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like football that require bouncing and jumping require muscles and tendons flexible enough to store and expel the high levels of energy required. 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 techniques to use. These techniques not only help you perform better but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players are taught 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 improve it.
• Listen to your body — If a part of your body is sore, that’s your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. If you feel a sudden crack or grinding sensation, stop immediately and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for an intense workout, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though playing through pain is often viewed as a valiant act among competitors, playing with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament 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 the nature of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, 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 reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against coming from behind in soccer, and even the existence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are examples of rules that were adopted to keep players safe. Those are in place for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Speak a professional physical therapist — It’s always advisable to get a physical before a new season or starting up a new activity or training regimen. During your physical, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Dutzow, MO is right for you. Every treatment plan we employ has been proven 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 Dutzow, MO Adults

Falls in adults over 65 were responsible for over 3 million urgent care visits and more than 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that being physical active is a great method for reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints strong. While seniors typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, appropriate strength, balance, flexibility, and optimal posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Dutzow, MO include:

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

Dutzow, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love can lead to a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same euphoria. The experienced Dutzow, 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. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits that you once valued so much. Make an appointment online or contact the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention experts in Dutzow, MO.