Leadington, MO

Leadington, MO

Don't let a mental block over reinjury keep you from the things what you do best.

Injury Prevention in Leadington, MO. Whether you’re an athlete hoping for an opportunity at the next level, or a recent retiree who wants to spend more time taking ski vacations, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our professional Leadington, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to recover from injury, we are complete movement health specialists who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to teach out techniques 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 call the location nearest you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Leadington, MO residents. We love active endeavors like playing sports, playing golf, and more. Furthermore, pursuing an active lifestyle helps stave off chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain diseases, depression, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Leadington, MO physical therapists allow you to come back as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention specialists can help keep you active by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our methods, for both healing from and preventing injury, 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 lingering injury that just won’t go away, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Leadington, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your active lifestyle, keep reading or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Leadington, MO

Most injuries fall into two categories:

  1. Overuse injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. They are common in overhead athletes athletes who use throwing or striking motions and commonly are accompanied by joint pain.
  2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include landing on uneven ground 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, like ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

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

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Leadington, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally happen because of dysfunction or imbalance and your body and between body parts. There are three primary causes of why your body cannot adjust to an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can result in dependency on one muscle group, which may cause your body to use it in a way it shouldn’t. It also prevents you from having ideal posture, and the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher probability of injury. Injuries can be caused by inadequate muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong hamstring and weak quadriceps, or in the same muscle group, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Symptoms include:

Customized injury prevention with our professional physical therapists in Leadington, 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 ways it is not designed to, causing injury. It can be caused by many different musculoskeletal issues. Symptoms include:

  • Joint mobility limitations
  • Muscle imbalance
  • Coordination deficits
  • Decreased balance

At our first injury prevention appointment in Leadington, MO, we’ll go over your medical records and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, together with your physician or any additional providers treating you, we’ll develop a tailored treatment plan been proven to work through research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with desk jobs. People who play sports and others with active lifestyles can have postural dysfunction when at lest, driving, or in certain body positions they need to be in for a given activity. Healthy posture means proper alignments of your body from your head to your toes in a way that keeps the spine within its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the bones of 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. Symptoms include:

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

Good posture is an important part of injury prevention because it ensures you are using the right muscles for the right movements, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your vertebrae remain in place.



Keys to Injury Prevention in Leadington, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to prevent one. No one precaution is 100% foolproof in injury prevention. However, there are precautions to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

  • Take breaks — 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 signal to your body to engage in its natural healing processes. If you have a more modest activity level, take it easy for the few hours after an activity so your body doesn’t become too fatigued.
  • Use protective equipment — Helmets, mouth guards, elbow pads, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries such as cuts or concussions. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Leadington, MO physician or physical therapist may advise braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further protection.
  • Improve muscle strength — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the rigors necessary for in sports and other activities. Our Leadington, MO injury prevention specialists will work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you want to participate in.
  • Enhance flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
    1. It enhances which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which allows for your soft tissue to handle more drastic positions.
    2. It enhances circulation, which carries protein-rich blood to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to heal.
    3. It boosts your posture, which we already know is an an important part of injury prevention.

    According to research, sports like basketball that require sudden twists and movements require soft tissue flexible enough to incorporate and expel the high levels of energy required. Also, it’s important to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

  • Use accepted technique — In every sport, there are accepted techniques to use. These techniques not only improve performance but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players are taught to tackle with the shoulder in order to avoid a concussion, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to break 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 bothering you, that’s your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. If you feel sudden pain, immediately withdraw from the activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t holing up well in an intense training session, save it for another day.
  • Don’t play through an injury — While playing through pain is often viewed as a valiant act among competitors, forcing your body to perform with soft tissue or structural damage could exacerbate an existing injury and leave you on the sidelines for longer than it originally would have. Depending on the nature of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, seeing urgent care, and a series of physical therapy sessions to make sure your body heals naturally and can handle the activity you want to return to.
  • Follow the rules — Most sports have special rules at different levels to reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against head-first sliding in baseball, 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 were enacted for a reason, and there’s a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
  • Consult a licensed 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. While there, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a professional physical therapist in Leadington, MO is right for you. Every treatment plan we employ has been proven to prevent injury, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to your age, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

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

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Leadington, MO

Falls in the elderly accounted for more than 3 million urgent care visits and over 34,000 fatalities. Studies show that being physical active can go a long way in preventing falls. Other conditions such as arthritis that develop over the course of several years can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints strong. While seniors typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, appropriate strength, balance, flexibility, and proper posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Leadington, MO include:

Leadington, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in one of your favorite activities can create a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same joy. The professional Leadington, 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 do not have to fear going back to what you love. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits of doing what you do best. Schedule an appointment online or call the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention specialists in Leadington, MO.

Services Offered

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

Our Team

Stephen Brunjes
OTR/L, CEAS
Cassandra Wadlow
Front Office
Dena Rose
PT, CMPT, CHT
Anthony Meyer
PT, DPT, CMPT
Derrick Wolk
Partner, Clinic Director, MPT, CMPT
Kimberly Helm
Front Office Supervisor
Lisa Bell
Front Office

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

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