Injury Prevention in Imperial, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or are entering your golden years and want to dedicate your time to bike riding, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our licensed Imperial, 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 body’s current condition and how you move to show you exercises that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location most convenient for you.

Physical activity is an essential part of many Imperial, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in active endeavors like playing sports, playing golf, and more. Additionally, committing to an active lifestyle helps stave off chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain diseases, mental health issues, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Imperial, 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 optimizing your overall movement health. All of our methods, for both recovery and injury prevention, 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 nagging injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Imperial, MO for a free injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can keep up with your active lifestyle, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist today.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Imperial, MO

Injuries generally happen for one of two reasons:

1. Repetitive motion injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. They are common in overhead athletes athletes who are required to repeat throwing or striking motions and commonly are accompanied by joint pain.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen because of a specific and sudden trauma. Examples include landing on uneven ground or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, broken bones, 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, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

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

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally happen because your soft tissue, 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 chief causes of why your body cannot adjust to 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 can also lead to poor posture, and one set of muscles becoming fatigued more quickly, making them more susceptible to injuries. Muscle imbalance applies to insufficient muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong chest and weak back, or within muscle groups, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Muscle imbalance can result in:

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

Personalized injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Imperial, MO will ensure that different muscles and muscle groups are equally strong.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can result in poor balance and lead to your body moving in unnatural ways, causing injury. It can be caused by numerous musculoskeletal issues. Symptoms include:

• Joint mobility restrictions
• Muscle imbalance
• Coordination deficits
• Reduced balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Imperial, MO, we’ll discuss your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, in concert with with your physician or any other providers involved in your treatment, we’ll develop a tailored plan of attack based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your movement health to reach its potential.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with desk jobs. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can be affected by postural dysfunction when resting, using the computer, or in specific positions necessary for a given activity. Correct posture refers to proper alignments when both static and moving in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can compact the vertebrae, which disrupts our body’s internal communications and makes it harder to attain the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. It can also lead to:

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

Good posture is a necessary part of injury prevention because it ensures muscle balance, range of motion, and that your vertebrae remain in place.

Injury Prevention Best Practices in Imperial, MO

All sports and physical activities carry an inherent risk of injury. We cannot promise that our injury prevention program completely negates the risk of injury. However, there are several steps you can take to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• Take breaks — Injuries are more common in overworked bodies. If you’re heavily active, make sure to take one or two days off per week to allow your body to engage in its natural healing and recovery processes. If you’re moderately active, relax for the rest of the day after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Use the right equipment — Helmets, chest guards, protective eyewear, and other required equipment in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries like rashes or concussions. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Imperial, MO doctor or injury prevention expert may recommend stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other measures like tying your shoes tightly can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
• Boost muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the force and torque of heavy activity. In your customized injury prevention program with our knowledgeable Imperial, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the often forgotten muscles needed to be able to stay healthy in the activities you love.
• Improve 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 allows for your tendons and ligaments to adapt to more extreme movements.
  2. It increases circulation, which carries nutrient-rich blood to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to recover.
  3. It enhances your posture, which we already know is an an essential part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like basketball that necessitate bouncing and jumping require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to perform those movements. Also, it’s important to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use correct technique — Through the years, each sport and physical activity develops a consensus of the best 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 reduce the risk of a concussion, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to use the appropriate muscles. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and educate you on how to improve it.
• Listen to your body — If a part of your body is sore, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel something suddenly that doesn’t feel right, immediately withdraw from the activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous workout, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate a player that guts it out through pain, playing with soft tissue or structural damage could exacerbate a current injury and leave you on the sidelines for longer than it originally would have. Depending on the nature of your injury, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, seeing an emergency room, and a series of physical therapy sessions to make sure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Play by the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules to reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for leading with the helmet in football, rules against head-first sliding in baseball, and even the existence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are examples of rules that leagues enacted to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
• Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s always advisable to have a medical evaluation before starting another season or committing yourself to any strenuous activity or training regimen. While there, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a experienced physical therapist in Imperial, MO is a good idea for you. All of our techniques have been proven to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Imperial, MO

Falls in adults over 65 were responsible for more than 3 million emergency room visits and over 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that being physical active can go a long way in preventing falls. Other conditions that cause pain like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints healthy. While older adults typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, the same principles of strength, balance, flexibility, and ideal posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Imperial, 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

Imperial, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in one of your favorite activities can create a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same exhilaration. The knowledgeable Imperial, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to develop your personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body prepared for the rigors of physical activity, and your mind at ease that you do not have to fear going back to what you love doing most. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits that you once valued so much. Request an appointment online or call the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention professionals in Imperial, MO.