Injury Prevention in Marthasville, MO. Whether you play a sport and are trying to get an opportunity at the next stage, or a recent retiree who wants to spend more time bike riding, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our licensed Marthasville, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to 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 prevent injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location most convenient for you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Marthasville, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in activities such as playing sports, biking, or other physical activities. Additionally, keeping an active lifestyle helps prevent chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, eurodegenerative disease, depression, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Marthasville, 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 treatment plans, for both recovery and injury prevention, are proven to be effective and are customized for 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 Marthasville, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your active lifestyle, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist today.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Marthasville, MO

Injuries typically happen for one of two reasons:

1. Repetitive demand injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. They are common in overhead athletes such as tennis or volleyball players, with joint pain usually being the first indicator.
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 common injuries, for example rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, such as ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

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

While injuries can happen in a variety of circumstances, and some are inescapable, they generally happen because of dysfunction or imbalance and your body and between body parts. There are three common dysfunctions that lead to injury:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is essential to maintaining healthy joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can lead to overemphasis for one set of muscles, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also causes posture dysfunction, and the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher probability 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. Symptoms include:

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

Personalized injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Marthasville, 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, increasing your risk of 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
• Reduced balance

At our first injury prevention appointment in Marthasville, MO, we’ll evaluate your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, in tandem with with your doctor or any other providers involved in your care, we’ll develop a customized treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people who spend a lot of time doing the same activity. People who play sports and other physically active people can suffer from postural dysfunction when at lest, sitting, or in specific poses they need to be in for their sport. Good posture refers to proper positioning of the different joints and muscles of your body in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can compact the joints in the spine, which disrupts your nervous system and makes it harder to reach the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. Symptoms include:

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

Good posture is a necessary part of injury prevention because it ensures you are using your muscles equally, your flexibility is not jeopardized, and your spine is in its natural position.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Marthasville, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything possible to prevent one. 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 — Your body needs time to rest and recover after any moderate to intense activity. If you have a very high activity level, one or two rest days a week will encourage your body to engage in its natural healing processes. If you’re moderately active, rest 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, safety pads and guards, and other equipment necessary in many sports can help prevent injuries such as cuts or brain injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Marthasville, MO doctor or injury prevention specialist may advise braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize a joint. Other techniques like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further protection.
• Increase muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the rigors necessary for in sports and other activities. Our Marthasville, MO injury prevention specialists will work to achieve ideal muscle balance and strengthen the smaller muscles needed to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Increase flexibility — Stretching achieves three important things for injury prevention:
  1. It increases your range of motion, which allows for your tendons and ligaments to adapt to more pronounced positions.
  2. It improves circulation, which allows for nourishing blood to flow to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and fortifying the muscles.
  3. It encourages good posture, which we already know is an is one of the most important factors of injury prevention.

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

• Use proper technique — Through the years, each sport and physical activity develops a consensus of the best techniques to use. These techniques not only help you get be the best player you can be but help prevent injuries by not forcing your body into unnatural positions and movements. Football players learn to tackle with the shoulder in order 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 break down your movement and analyze how to both be a better athlete and reduce your risk of injury.
• Listen to your body — If a part of your body is sore, that’s your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. If you feel a sudden crack or grinding sensation, immediately stop all physical activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous workout, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate an athlete that plays through pain, forcing your body to perform with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could make that injury worse and leave you off the field or court for longer than it originally would have. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, seeing your doctor, and a series of physical therapy sessions to make sure your body heals naturally and can handle a return to physical activity.
• Play by the rules — Many sports have special rules at different levels to help prevent injury. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the presence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers 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 in your best interest to have a medical evaluation before a new season or starting up a new physical activity. During your physical, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a experienced physical therapist in Marthasville, MO is a good idea for you. All of our techniques have been proven to prevent injury, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to how old you are, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for Older Marthasville, MO Adults

Falls in senior citizens accounted for over 3 million emergency room visits and more than 34,000 fatalities. Studies show that being physical active can go a long way in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like arthritis that develop over the course of several years can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints active. While seniors typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, appropriate strength, balance, flexibility, and proper posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Marthasville, MO include:

• Neck Pain Treatment
• 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

Marthasville, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in one of your favorite activities can create a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same exultation. The licensed Marthasville, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to design for you a personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body as safe and healthy as can be, 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 do not want to lose. Request an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention professionals in Marthasville, MO.