Injury Prevention in Gilmore, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to improve your performance, or a recent retiree who wants to dedicate your time to being physical fit, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our licensed Gilmore, 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 movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to guide you through exercises that are proven to reduce the risk of injury by preparing your body for the stressors of your desired activity. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or reach out to the location nearest you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Gilmore, MO residents. We love active endeavors like playing sports, swimming, or other physical activities. Furthermore, pursuing an active lifestyle helps prevent serious health problems including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain diseases, depression, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Gilmore, MO physical therapists help you return to action as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention experts can help preserve your active lifestyle by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our methods, both when helping restore motion health and when looking to improve it, are proven to be effective and are developed uniquely for each client and the lifestyle they desire.

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 Gilmore, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your active lifestyle, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist today.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Gilmore, MO

Most injuries fall into two categories:

1. Chronic injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. They are common in overhead athletes such as raquetball or basketball players, with joint pain usually being the first warning sign.
2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include falling or a sudden impact by an object or another person. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, fractures, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, like rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, like ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

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

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and are sometimes unpreventable, they generally occur because of dysfunction or imbalance and your body and between body parts. There are three primary causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is essential to maintaining healthy joints and staving off injury. Imbalance can cause an overreliance on one muscle group, which may cause your body to use it in a way 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 can refer to inadequate muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong bicep and weak tricep, or within muscle groups, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Symptoms include:

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

Tailored injury prevention with our licensed physical therapists in Gilmore, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, increasing your risk of injury. It can be caused by numerous musculoskeletal issues. Symptoms include:

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

At our first injury prevention appointment in Gilmore, MO, we’ll go through your medical records and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your doctor or any other providers involved in your treatment, we’ll come up with a tailored treatment plan been proven to work by research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people who sit a lot. People who play sports and other physically active people can have postural dysfunction when resting, driving, or in certain positions they need to be in for their sport. Healthy 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 compact the vertebrae, which has a negative affect on our body’s ability to communicate with itself and 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

Good posture is a vital part of injury prevention because it ensures muscle balance, flexibility, and that your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Gilmore, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to reduce that risk. We cannot promise that our injury prevention program completely negates the risk of injury. However, there are things you can do to make sure your body is prepared for your desired activity level:

• Take a rest — Injuries are more common in overworked bodies. If you have a very high activity level, make sure to take one or two days off per week to allow your body to naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you’re moderately active, take it easy after activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Use the correct equipment — Helmets, shin guards, elbow pads, and other required equipment in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries like rashes or head injuries. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Gilmore, MO doctor or physical therapist may suggest braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize a joint. Other methods like tying your athletic footwear tightly offers further stabilization.
• Boost muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them withstand the force and torque of heavy activity. In your tailored injury prevention program with our experienced Gilmore, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to achieve ideal muscle balance and strengthen the often forgotten muscles needed to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Increase flexibility — Increasing your flexibility accomplishes three critical things for injury prevention:
  1. It improves your range of motion, which allows for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to handle more drastic positions.
  2. It increases circulation, which carries nourishing blood to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to restore themselves.
  3. It encourages good posture, which we already know is an an essential part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like soccer that require bouncing and jumping require muscles and tendons flexible enough to store and release the high amount of energy required. Stretching and warm up exercises before activities further helps prevent injuries.

• 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 get be the best player you can be but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to avoid brain damage, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best apply torque to your body. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to break down your movement and analyze how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If a part of your body is bothering you, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel sudden pain, immediately withdraw from the activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for an intense training session, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though playing through pain is often seen as a heroic act among competitors, forcing your body to perform with soft tissue or structural damage could make that injury worse and put you out of commission for much longer than if you had sat out at the time of the injury. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, seeing urgent care, and a series of physical therapy sessions to make sure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Follow the rules — Many sports have special rules at different levels to reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for helmet to helmet hits in football, rules against coming from behind in soccer, and even the presence of bike lanes are all rules put in place to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
• 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. During your physical, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Gilmore, MO is something you should consider. Every treatment plan we employ has been demonstrated to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to how old you are, your injury history, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Gilmore, MO

Falls in adults over 65 were responsible for over 3 million urgent care admissions and more than 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that being physical active is invaluable in preventing falls. Other conditions such as arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints healthy. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and good posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Gilmore, MO include:

• Back Pain Treatment
• Neck Pain Treatment
• 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

Gilmore, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in in an activity you prepare and train for and love can create a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same joy. The knowledgeable Gilmore, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to develop your personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body strong and flexible, and your mind at ease that you can safely return to the activities you love doing most. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits that you once valued so much. Make an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to discover what our Gilmore, MO injury prevention experts can do for you.