Injury Prevention in Huntleigh, MO. Whether you’re an athlete trying to get a shot at the next stage, or are entering your golden years and want to spend more time taking ski vacations, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you desire. While our certified Huntleigh, 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 measures 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 call the location most convenient for you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Huntleigh, MO residents. We love activities such as playing sports, hiking, or other physical activities. Additionally, pursuing an active lifestyle helps prevent chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, degenerative brain diseases, depression, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Huntleigh, MO physical therapists allow you to come back and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention experts can help preserve your active lifestyle by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our treatment plans, for both healing from and preventing injury, are based on evidence-backed techniques and are customized 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 Huntleigh, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your active lifestyle, read on below or inquire about an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Huntleigh, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

1. Repetitive demand injuries are injuries happen gradually as a body part degrades because of repetitive movements. They are common in overhead athletes athletes who use throwing or striking motions and typically reveal themselves with joint pain.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen suddenly. Examples include falling or a sudden impact by an object or another person. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, fractures, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, like rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with a sudden impact to the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Huntleigh, MO

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and some are unpreventable, they generally occur because of dysfunction or instability and your body and between body parts. There are three common dysfunctions that lead to injury:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is crucial to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can lead to overemphasis for one muscle group, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also prevents you from having good 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 inadequate muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong chest and weak back, or within muscle groups, such as the four muscles in the rotator cuff having different levels of strength. Muscle imbalance can lead to:

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

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

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can result in poor balance and lead to your body moving in ways it is not designed to, causing injury. Neurological issues, swelling, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. It can lead to:

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

When you first visit our injury prevention specialists in Huntleigh, MO, we’ll discuss your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, together with your doctor or any other medical professionals treating you, we’ll create a customized 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 with desk jobs. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can suffer from postural dysfunction when lying down, sitting, or in specific stances necessary for their sport. Optimal posture means proper alignments of the neck, torso, pelvis, and extremities in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can compact the bones of the spine, which disrupts our body’s internal communications and makes it difficult to reach the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. Symptoms include:

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

By teaching you good posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring you are using the right muscles for the right movements, your flexibility is not jeopardized, and your vertebrae remain in place.

How to Prevent Injury in Huntleigh, MO

All sports and physical activities can potentially lead to an injury. No one technique is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are several steps you can take to make sure your body is prepared for your intended activity:

• Take breaks — Injuries are more common in overworked bodies. 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 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.
• Wear the correct equipment — Helmets, shin guards, protective eyewear, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries such as rashes or concussions. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Huntleigh, MO physician or physical therapist may advise braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize a joint. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further stabilization.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the force and torque your body is put through in sports and other activities. In your customized injury prevention program with our experienced Huntleigh, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Enhance flexibility — Stretching achieves three critical things for injury prevention:
  1. It increases your range of motion, which allows for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to adapt to more dramatic positions.
  2. It boosts circulation, which allows for protein-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and rebuilding the muscles.
  3. It improves your posture, which we already know is an an essential part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like football that necessitate bouncing and jumping require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to store and release the high levels of energy required. Also, it’s important to stretch and warm up before games or training to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use accepted technique — Through the years, each sport and physical activity develops a consensus of the best ways to position and move your body. These techniques not only improve performance but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players are taught to tackle a certain way to avoid a concussion, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to break down your movement and educate you on how to improve it.
• 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 sudden pain, stop immediately and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous training session, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — While gutting it out through pain is often seen as a valiant act among competitors, playing with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament 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, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, and scheduling appointments with a physical therapist to ensure your body heals properly and can handle 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 helmet to helmet hits in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the presence of bike lanes are all rules put in place to keep participants safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s a good idea to get a physical before another season begins or committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a knowledgeable physical therapist in Huntleigh, MO is right for you. All of our techniques have been demonstrated 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 Huntleigh, MO

Falls in adults over 65 accounted for more than 3 million emergency room admissions and over 34,000 fatalities. Studies show that physical activity is invaluable in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions that limit mobility 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 seniors may not be as high as an athlete, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and ideal posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Huntleigh, MO include:

• 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
• Stroke Rehabilitation
• Hip Replacement Physical Therapy

Huntleigh, 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 exhilaration. The experienced Huntleigh, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to design for you a 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. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits that you once valued so much. Make an appointment online or call the location nearest you to see what our Huntleigh, MO injury prevention experts can do for you.