Injury Prevention in Moscow Mills, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or you just retired and want to spend more time being physical fit, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our professional Moscow Mills, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to recover from injury, we are complete movement health specialists who can evaluate your body’s current condition and how you move to teach out exercises that are proven to reduce the risk of injury by preparing your body for the stressors of your desired activity. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or reach out to the location most convenient for you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Moscow Mills, MO people’s lives. We love active endeavors like playing sports, biking, and more. Additionally, pursuing an active lifestyle reduces the risk of future health problems including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, eurodegenerative disease, mental health issues, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Moscow Mills, MO physical therapists help you come back even stronger after an injury, but our injury prevention experts can help you reduce the risk of further injury by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our methods, for both healing from and preventing injury, are based on evidence-backed techniques and are developed uniquely for each client and the lifestyle they desire.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a persistent injury that just won’t go away, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Moscow Mills, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and ensure that you can keep up with your active lifestyle, read on below or inquire about an appointment today.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Moscow Mills, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

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, with joint pain usually being the first indicator.
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, sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, like rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, like ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Moscow Mills, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally occur 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 crucial to supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can cause an overreliance on one muscle group, which may cause your body to use it in a way it shouldn’t. It also causes posture dysfunction, 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 bicep and weak tricep, or within muscle groups, 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
• Coordination deficits

Customized injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Moscow Mills, 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 ways it is not designed to, causing injury. Neurological issues, inflammation, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. It can cause injury through:

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

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Moscow Mills, MO, we’ll go through your medical records and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, in concert with with your doctor or any other medical professionals treating you, we’ll develop a personalized treatment plan been proven to work by 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. People who play sports and other physically active people can suffer from postural dysfunction when lying down, sitting, or in certain body positions they need to be in for a given activity. Good posture means proper positioning 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 vertebrae closer together, which disrupts communication between your brain and body and makes it difficult 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, flexibility, and that your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Moscow Mills, 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 precautions 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’re heavily active, one or two rest days a week will encourage your body to engage in its natural healing and recovery processes. If you have a more modest activity level, relax for the rest of the day after an activity so your body doesn’t become too fatigued.
• Wear the right equipment — Helmets, chest guards, elbow pads, and other required equipment in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries like cuts or brain injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Moscow Mills, MO doctor or physical therapist may suggest stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other measures like tying your shoes tightly offers further protection.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it withstand the rigors necessary for in sports and other activities. Our Moscow Mills, MO injury prevention professionals will work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you want to participate in.
• Improve flexibility — Increasing your flexibility accomplishes three critical things for injury prevention:
  1. It boosts your range of motion, which allows for your tendons and ligaments to adapt to more extreme movements.
  2. It enhances blood flow, which allows for nourishing blood to flow to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to heal.
  3. It encourages good posture, which we already know is an an essential part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like soccer that require sudden twists and movements require soft tissue flexible enough to store and exert the high amount of energy required. Stretching and warm up exercises before games or training further helps prevent injuries.

• Use proper technique — In every physical activity, there are accepted techniques to use. These techniques not only improve performance but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to avoid a head injury, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to slow down your movement and analyze how to both improve your performance and reduce your risk of injury.
• Listen to your body — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, that means that body part is telling your brain that something is wrong. If you feel sudden pain, stop immediately and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t feeling up to an intense workout, save it for another day.
• 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 soft tissue or structural damage could aggravate a current injury and put you out of commission 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, seeing urgent care, and a series of physical therapy sessions 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 to reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against coming from behind in soccer, and even the presence of bike lanes are examples of rules that leagues enacted to keep players safe. Those are in place 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 get a physical before another season begins or starting up a new physical activity. During your physical, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a professional physical therapist in Moscow Mills, MO is something you should consider. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to prevent injury, and we’ll personalize your program to how old you are, your injury history, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Moscow Mills, MO

Falls in senior citizens were responsible for more than 3 million urgent care admissions and more than 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that being physical active is a great method for 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 strong. While older adults typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and ideal posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Moscow Mills, 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

Moscow Mills, 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 experienced Moscow Mills, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body as safe and healthy as can be, 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 that you once valued so much. Make an appointment online or call the location nearest you to see what our Moscow Mills, MO injury prevention experts can do for you.