Injury Prevention in Hoene Spring, MO. Whether you play a sport and are hoping for an opportunity at the next stage, or a recent retiree who wants to spend more time camping, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our professional Hoene Spring, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to recover from injury, we are experts in the entire musculoskeletal system who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to guide you through methods that are proven to reduce the risk of injury by preparing your body for the stressors of your desired activity. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Hoene Spring, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in active endeavors such as playing sports, hiking, and more. Furthermore, keeping an active lifestyle reduces the risk of significant health problems including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, eurodegenerative disease, mental health issues, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Hoene Spring, MO physical therapists allow you to return to action as fierce as ever, 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 based on evidence-backed techniques and are personalized to each client and the lifestyle they desire.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a persistent injury that just won’t go away, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Hoene Spring, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can continue with your active lifestyle, read on below or inquire about an appointment today.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Hoene Spring, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

1. Chronic injuries are injuries that occur when a part of the body repeats the same motion time and time again. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes such as baseball or lacrosse players, with joint pain usually being the first warning sign.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen in an instant. 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, for example rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, such as ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with a sudden impact to the knee.

Why Do Injuries Happen? | Injury Prevention in Hoene Spring, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally happen because your muscles, ligaments, tendons, 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 main causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is essential to maintaining healthy joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can lead to dependency on one set of muscles, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also causes posture dysfunction, and the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher likelihood of injury. Injuries can be caused by poor muscle balance in relation to other 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. Muscle imbalance can cause injury through:

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

Tailored injury prevention with our experienced physical therapists in Hoene Spring, MO will ensure that different muscles and muscle groups are equally strong.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body bending in ways it is not designed to, increasing your risk of injury. Neurological issues, inflammation, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. It can cause injury through:

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

At our first injury prevention appointment in Hoene Spring, MO, we’ll discuss your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, alongside with your doctor or any additional medical professionals involved in your care, we’ll come up with a customized treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

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 be affected by postural dysfunction when resting, driving, or in certain stances necessary for their sport. Optimal posture means proper positioning of the different joints and muscles of your body in a way that keeps the spine within its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the joints in the spine closer together, which has a negative affect on our body’s ability to communicate with itself and achieve the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. 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 you are using your muscles equally, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your spine is in its natural position.

Injury Prevention Methods in Hoene Spring, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to reduce that risk. No one safety tip is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are precautions to make sure your body is prepared for your desired activity level:

• Take breaks — Your body needs time to rest and recover after any moderate to intense activity. If you have a very high activity level, one or two rest days a week will 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, chest guards, protective eyewear, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries like lacerations or head injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Hoene Spring, MO doctor or injury prevention professional may advise braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the affected area. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further stabilization.
• Improve muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them withstand the rigors necessary for in sports and other activities. Our Hoene Spring, MO injury prevention experts will work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the often forgotten muscles needed to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Boost flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It boosts which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which lets for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to adjust to more pronounced positions.
  2. It improves circulation, which allows for protein-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and re-energizing the muscles.
  3. It enhances your posture, which we already know is an is one of the most important factors of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like football that require sudden twists and movements require soft tissue compliant enough to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before games or training further helps prevent injuries.

• Use proper 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 learn to tackle a certain way to avoid a head injury, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and educate you on how to improve it.
• Listen to your body — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, that means that body part is telling your brain that something is wrong. 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 a particularly rigorous training session, 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 an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could aggravate an existing injury and leave you on the sidelines 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, seeing your doctor, and a series of physical therapy sessions to ensure your body heals naturally and can withstand a return to physical activity.
• 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 slide-tackling in soccer, and even the existence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are all rules that leagues enacted to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. Those are in place for a reason, and there’s a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
• Consult a professional physical therapist — It’s a good idea to have a medical evaluation before a new season or committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. During your appointment, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a expert physical therapist in Hoene Spring, MO is a good idea for you. Every treatment plan we employ has been proven to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to how old you are, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Hoene Spring, MO

Falls in adults over 65 were responsible for over 3 million emergency room visits and over 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that being physical active is invaluable in preventing 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 muscles, tendons, ligaments, 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 correct posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Hoene Spring, 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

Hoene Spring, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in something you love doing can lead to a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same exultation. The licensed Hoene Spring, 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. You deserve to feel the physical and mental health benefits that you do not want to lose. Schedule an appointment online or contact the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention experts in Hoene Spring, MO.