Injury Prevention in Liguori, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or are entering your golden years and want to spend more time camping, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our licensed Liguori, MO physical therapists spend much of their time helping athletes and others recover from injury, we are experts in the entire musculoskeletal system who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to show you measures that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Being physically active is vitally important to many Liguori, MO residents. Many of us participate in activities such as playing sports, playing golf, and more. Furthermore, pursuing an active lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, mental health issues, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Liguori, MO physical therapists help you come back and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention professionals can help preserve your active lifestyle by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our methods, for both recovery and injury prevention, are proven to be effective and are personalized to each client and the lifestyle they desire.

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 most convenient for you in Liguori, MO for a free injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and ensure that you can continue with your sport or hobby, keep reading or inquire about an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Liguori, MO

Injuries generally fall into two categories:

1. Repetitive motion 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 athletes who use throwing or striking motions 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 receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, broken bones, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, for example rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

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

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and are sometimes inescapable, they generally occur 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 primary causes of why your body cannot adjust to an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to maintaining healthy joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can cause overemphasis for 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 the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher probability of injury. Muscle imbalance applies to inadequate muscle balance between 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. Muscle imbalance can cause injury through:

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

Customized injury prevention with our certified physical therapists in Liguori, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body moving in ways it is not designed to, causing injury. It can be caused by numerous musculoskeletal issues. It can lead to:

• Joint mobility limitations
• Muscle imbalance
• Coordination deficiency
• Lessened balance

When you first see our injury prevention specialists in Liguori, MO, we’ll go through your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your physician or any additional providers treating you, we’ll develop 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 who spend a lot of time doing the same activity. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can have postural dysfunction when at lest, sitting, or in certain positions they need to be in for their sport. Correct posture refers to 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 compress the joints in the spine, which has a negative affect on our body’s ability to communicate with itself and reach the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. It causes injuries through:

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

By helping you understand correct 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 Liguori, MO

All sports and physical activities can potentially lead to an injury. No one technique is 100% foolproof in injury prevention. However, there are things you can do to make sure your body is strong and flexible enough for your intended activity:

• Take a rest — Your body needs time to rest and recover after any moderate to intense activity. 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 moderate activity level, rest for the rest of the day after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Wear the appropriate equipment — Helmets, chest guards, safety pads and guards, and other equipment necessary in many sports helps you avoid injuries such as cuts or concussions. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Liguori, MO doctor or injury prevention professional may suggest stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other techniques like tying your shoes tightly offers further stabilization.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it withstand the force and torque of heavy activity. In your tailored injury prevention program with our certified Liguori, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to achieve ideal muscle balance and strengthen the smaller muscles needed to be able to stay healthy in the activities you want to participate in.
• Increase flexibility — Stretching achieves three critical things for injury prevention:
  1. It boosts your range of motion, which lets for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to handle more extreme positions.
  2. It increases blood flow, which allows for nutrient-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and rebuilding the muscles.
  3. It enhances your posture, which, as you read earlier, is an important part of injury prevention.

  According to studies, sports like soccer that include bouncing and jumping require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to store and expel the high amount of energy required. Stretching and warm up exercises before activities further helps prevent injuries.

• Use correct 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 prevent injuries. Football players are taught to tackle a certain way to avoid a head injury, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best apply torque to your body. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and analyze how to both improve your performance and prevent injury.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, that means that body part is telling your brain that 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 a particularly rigorous workout, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — While teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate an athlete that plays through pain, playing with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could aggravate a current injury and put you out of commission for much longer than you would have been sitting out. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, visiting urgent care, and scheduling appointments with a physical therapist to make sure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Follow the rules — Many sports have special rules at different levels in the interest of safety. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against coming from behind in soccer, and even the existence of bike lanes are all rules that were adopted 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.
• Speak a professional physical therapist — It’s in your best interest to have a medical evaluation before starting another season or committing yourself to any strenuous activity or training regimen. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a knowledgeable physical therapist in Liguori, MO is a good idea 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, any previous injuries, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Liguori, MO

Falls in the elderly were responsible for more than 3 million emergency room visits and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that being physical active can go a long way in preventing falls. Other conditions that cause pain such as arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints active. While older adults typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and good posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Liguori, MO include:

• Soft Tissue Mobilization
• Post Surgical Rehabilitation
• Shin Splint Treatment
• Direct Access Physical Therapy
• Gait Analysis
• Pelvic Floor Therapy
• Dry Needling Near Me
• Tendonitis Treatment
• Manual Physical Therapy
• Orthopedic Rehab Near Me

Liguori, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love causes a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same elation. The licensed Liguori, 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 can safely return to the activities 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 reach out to the location nearest you to see what our Liguori, MO injury prevention professionals can do for you.