Hopewell, MO

Hopewell, MO

Don't let the fear of reinjury prevent you from participating in the things what you do best.

Injury Prevention in Hopewell, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or are entering your golden years and want to spend more time bike riding, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our certified Hopewell, 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 guide you through techniques that are proven to prevent injury. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or call the location most convenient for you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Hopewell, MO people’s lives. We love active endeavors such as playing sports, playing golf, or other physical activities. Furthermore, pursuing an active lifestyle helps prevent chronic conditions such as 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 Hopewell, MO physical therapists allow you to return to action and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention professionals can help keep you active 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 developed uniquely for each client and the level of activity they want to reach.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a nagging injury that won’t heal on its own, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Hopewell, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your active lifestyle, keep reading or inquire about an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Hopewell, MO

Injuries typically fall into two categories:

  1. Repetitive demand injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. They are common in overhead athletes such as tennis or basketball players and typically reveal themselves with joint pain.
  2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen because of a specific and sudden trauma. Examples include falling or a sudden impact by an object or another person. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, for example rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with a sudden impact to the knee.

Injury Prevention Hopewell, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Hopewell

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

While injuries can happen in a variety of circumstances, and are sometimes unpreventable, 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 common dysfunctions that lead to injury:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can result in an overreliance on one set of muscles, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. It also causes posture dysfunction, and one set of muscles becoming fatigued sooner, making them more susceptible to injuries. Muscle imbalance applies to inadequate muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong hamstring and weak quadriceps, or within muscle groups, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Symptoms include:

Personalized injury prevention with our licensed physical therapists in Hopewell, MO will ensure that your muscles are at optimal proportional strength.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can result in poor balance and lead to your body moving in unnatural ways, causing 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
  • Coordination deficits
  • Reduced balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Hopewell, MO, we’ll evaluate your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, alongside with your doctor or any other providers involved in your treatment, we’ll develop a personalized treatment plan been proven to work through research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people who sit a lot. People who play sports and others with active lifestyles can have postural dysfunction when resting, sitting, or in certain body positions they need to be in for their sport. Healthy posture means proper positioning 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 vertebrae closer together, which disrupts communication between your brain and body and makes it harder to achieve 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 ideal 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.



Keys to Injury Prevention in Hopewell, MO

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

  • Take a rest — Injuries are more common when you do not give your body time to restore itself. If you’re heavily active, 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 have a more moderate activity level, relax for the rest of the day after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
  • Use the right equipment — Helmets, shin guards, protective eyewear, and other recommended equipment in many sports helps you avoid injuries such as bruises or concussions. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Hopewell, MO physician or injury prevention specialist may recommend stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other techniques like tying your athletic footwear tightly can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
  • Increase muscle strength — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the rigors of heavy activity. Our Hopewell, MO injury prevention professionals will work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the often forgotten muscles needed to safely participate in the activities you love.
  • Improve flexibility — Increasing your flexibility accomplishes three critical things for injury prevention:
    1. It enhances 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 adapt to more forceful movements.
    2. It improves circulation, which carries protein-rich blood to your muscles, removing waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to recover.
    3. It increases your posture, which we already know is an an essential part of injury prevention.

    According to studies, sports like football that require sudden twists and movements require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to perform those movements. Also, remember to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

  • Use proper technique — In every physical activity, there are accepted 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 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 both improve your performance and prevent injury.
  • Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If a part of your body is sore, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel a sudden crack or grinding sensation, immediately withdraw from the activity and seek proportional medical care. If your body isn’t feeling up to an intense workout, don’t force it.
  • Don’t play through an injury — While gritting through pain is often seen as commendable among competitors, playing with soft tissue or structural damage could make that injury worse and leave you on the sidelines for longer than it originally would have. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, seeing your doctor, and rehab with a physical therapist to ensure your body heals properly and can handle the activity you want to return to.
  • 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 coming from behind in soccer, and even the presence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are all 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.
  • Speak a professional physical therapist — It’s a good idea to get a physical before another season begins or starting up a new physical activity. During your physical, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a professional physical therapist in Hopewell, MO is right for you. Every treatment plan we employ has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of injury, and we’ll personalize your program to how old you are, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention Hopewell, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Hopewell

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Hopewell, MO

Falls in adults over 65 accounted for more than 3 million urgent care visits and over 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that being physical active is a great method for preventing falls. Other conditions that cause pain like arthritis that accumulate over time can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints healthy. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, healthy strength, balance, flexibility, and optimal posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Hopewell, MO include:

Hopewell, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same elation. The professional Hopewell, 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 confident 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 once valued so much. Make an appointment online or contact the location nearest you to find out more about what our Hopewell, MO injury prevention professionals can do for you.

Services Offered

Services Offered
  • Physical Therapy
    • Pre/Post Surgical Rehabilitation
    • Acute Injury Management
    • Chronic Injury Management
  • Work Conditioning/Hardening
  • Functional Capacity Evaluations
  • Certified Hand Therapy
  • Sports Physical Therapy
  • Pediatric Orthopedic Physical Therapy
  • Geriatric Physical Therapy
  • Vestibular Therapy
  • Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
  • Spine Specialty – Certified Manual Therapy
  • Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy
  • Free Injury Screenings
  • Kinesio Taping®
  • Video Motion Analysis
  • Blood Flow Restriction Therapy

Our Team

Stephen Brunjes
OTR/L, CEAS
Brittany Stapp
Front Office Supervisor
Sara Dowil
OTR/L, CHT
Mike Faris
Clinic Director, PT, CMPT
Kelly Basler
Front Office

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

Injuries and pain shouldn’t keep you from moving and doing the things you love.