Injury Prevention in Foley, MO. Whether you play a sport and are hoping for an opportunity at the next stage, 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 deserve. While our professional Foley, MO physical therapists spend much of their time helping athletes and others 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 by preparing your body for the stressors of your desired activity. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Foley, MO residents. We love activities like playing sports, swimming, and more. Additionally, committing to an active lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, eurodegenerative disease, depression, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Foley, MO physical therapists allow you to return to action and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention experts 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, are proven to be effective and are personalized to each client and the lifestyle they desire.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a nagging injury that won’t heal on its own, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Foley, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and ensure that you can keep up with your active lifestyle, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Foley, 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 use throwing or striking motions, with joint pain usually being the first symptom.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen suddenly. Examples include falling or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, such as rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. 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 Foley, 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 main causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to maintaining healthy joints and staving off 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 also prevents you from having ideal posture, and the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher likelihood of injury. Muscle imbalance can refer to insufficient muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong hamstring and weak quadriceps, or in the same muscle group, such as the four muscles in the rotator cuff having different levels of strength. Symptoms include:

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

Customized injury prevention with our professional physical therapists in Foley, MO will ensure that different muscles and muscle groups are equally strong.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, causing injury. Neurological issues, inflammation, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. It can lead to:

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

When you first visit our injury prevention specialists in Foley, MO, we’ll go over your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your physician or any additional providers involved in your treatment, we’ll devise a customized game plan been proven to work by research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people who sit a lot. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can suffer from postural dysfunction when at lest, sitting, or in specific poses they need to be in for their sport. Good posture refers to correct alignments 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 bring the bones of the spine closer together, which interferes with our body’s ability to communicate with itself and reach optimal motion health. Symptoms include:

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

Good posture is a necessary part of injury prevention because it ensures you are using your muscles equally, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your vertebrae remain in place.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Foley, MO

All sports and physical activities carry an inherent risk of injury. No one precaution is 100% foolproof in injury prevention. However, there are precautions 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’re heavily active, make sure to take one or two days off per week to encourage your body to naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you have a more modest activity level, take a break for the few hours after an activity so your body doesn’t become too fatigued.
• Wear the correct equipment — Helmets, chest guards, protective eyewear, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries such as cuts or head injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Foley, MO doctor or injury prevention professional may recommend stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other techniques 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 rigors of heavy activity. In your personalized injury prevention program with our professional Foley, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Enhance flexibility — Increasing your flexibility accomplishes three important things for injury prevention:
  1. It boosts your range of motion, which lets for your tendons and ligaments to handle more dramatic positions.
  2. It enhances blood flow, which carries protein-rich blood to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to recover.
  3. It enhances your posture, which, as you read earlier, is an important part of injury prevention.

  According to research, sports like soccer that require bouncing and jumping require soft tissue with sufficient flexibility to store and exert the high amount of energy required. Also, remember to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use correct technique — In every sport, there are accepted techniques to use. These techniques not only improve performance but help prevent injuries by not forcing your body into unnatural positions and movements. Football players are taught to tackle with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of 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 educate you on how to both be a better athlete and prevent injury.
• Listen to your body — If a part of your body is bothering you, that’s your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. If you feel something suddenly that doesn’t feel right, stop immediately and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for an intense workout, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — While teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate a player that plays through pain, forcing your body to perform with soft tissue or structural damage could aggravate an existing injury and leave you on the sidelines for longer than it originally would have. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, visiting your doctor, and a series of physical therapy sessions to ensure your body heals naturally and can withstand a return to physical activity.
• Play by 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 targeting in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the presence of bike lanes are examples of rules that leagues enacted to keep players safe. Those are in place for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Consult a professional physical therapist — It’s in your best interest 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 knowledgeable physical therapist in Foley, MO is right for you. All of our techniques have been proven to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to how old you are, any previous injuries, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Foley, MO

Falls in senior citizens were responsible for more than 3 million urgent care visits and over 34,000 fatalities. Studies show that physical activity is a great method for reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like arthritis that accumulate over time can be slowed down by physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints strong. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, the same principles of strength, balance, flexibility, and ideal posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Foley, MO include:

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

Foley, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in one of your favorite activities causes a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same joy. The professional Foley, 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 that you do not want to lose. Make an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to see what our Foley, MO injury prevention professionals can do for you.