Injury Prevention in Murphy, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or a recent retiree who wants to dedicate your time to hiking, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our licensed Murphy, 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 guide you through measures that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or call the location nearest you.

Being physically active is vitally important to many Murphy, MO residents. We love activities such as playing sports, hiking, or other physical activities. Furthermore, pursuing an active lifestyle helps prevent chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain diseases, anxiety, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Murphy, MO physical therapists allow you to return to action as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention specialists can help you reduce the risk of further injury by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our methods, both when helping restore motion health and when looking to improve it, are based on evidence-backed techniques and are personalized to each client and the level of activity they want to reach.

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 Murphy, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your active lifestyle, read on below or inquire about an appointment today.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Murphy, MO

Injuries generally fall into two categories:

1. Repetitive demand injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes such as raquetball or quarterbacks and typically manifest themselves as joint pain.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen suddenly. Examples include falling or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, broken bones, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, for example rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, like ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with a sudden impact to the knee.

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

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally occur because your soft tissue, bones, and joints cannot hold up under the force, torque, or stretching that they are subjected to in a given movement or collision. There are three primary causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to supporting joints and reducing 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 can also lead to poor posture, and the weaker set of muscles will be pushed past its limit, resulting in failure and a higher likelihood of injury. Injuries can be caused by inadequate muscle balance in relation to other 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. Symptoms include:

• Muscle weakness
• Muscle inflexibility
• Poor muscle recruitment
• Coordination deficiency

Customized injury prevention with our licensed physical therapists in Murphy, MO will ensure that different muscles and muscle groups are equally strong.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, increasing your risk of injury. It can be caused by numerous musculoskeletal issues. It can cause injury through:

• Joint mobility limitations
• Muscle imbalance
• Poor coordination
• Reduced balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Murphy, MO, we’ll go over your medical records and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your doctor or any additional medical professionals treating you, we’ll develop a tailored treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people who spend a lot of time in the same position. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can be affected by postural dysfunction when lying down, using the computer, or in certain stances they need to be in for a given activity. Good posture refers to correct alignments when both static and moving in a way that keeps the spine within its natural curves. Poor posture can compact the joints in the spine, which has a negative affect on our body’s ability to communicate with itself and attain ideal movement health. It can also lead to:

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

Good posture is a vital part of injury prevention because it ensures you are using your muscles equally, your flexibility is not jeopardized, and your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.

Injury Prevention Techniques in Murphy, MO

All sports and physical activities carry an inherent risk of injury. No one safety tip is 100% foolproof in injury prevention. However, there are precautions to make sure your body is prepared for your desired activity level:

• Take breaks — Injuries are more common in overworked bodies. If you have a very high activity level, one or two rest days a week will allow 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.
• Wear protective equipment — Helmets, shin guards, safety pads and guards, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries such as rashes or concussions. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Murphy, MO physician or physical therapist may advise braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the affected area. Other methods like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further protection.
• Boost muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the rigors of heavy activity. In your tailored injury prevention program with our professional Murphy, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the often forgotten muscles needed to safely participate in the activities you want to participate in.
• Increase flexibility — Increasing your flexibility achieves three critical things for injury prevention:
  1. It improves your range of motion, which lets for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to adapt to more drastic movements.
  2. It enhances circulation, which carries nourishing blood to your muscles, removing waste byproduct and revitalizing the muscles.
  3. It boosts your posture, which we already know is an an essential part of injury prevention.

  According to research, sports like basketball that require dynamic activities require muscles and tendons compliant enough to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before games or training further helps prevent injuries.

• 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 perform better but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to avoid brain damage, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to slow down your movement and analyze how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If a part of your body is bothering you, that means that body part is telling your brain that something isn’t right. If you feel a sudden crack or grinding sensation, immediately stop all physical activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t holing up well in an intense training session, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate an athlete that guts it out through pain, playing with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could make that injury worse and put you out of commission for longer than it originally would have. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, seeing urgent care, and scheduling appointments with a physical therapist to make sure your body heals properly and can handle a return to physical activity.
• Play by the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules in the interest of safety. Penalties for leading with the helmet in football, rules against head-first sliding in baseball, and even the presence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are all rules that leagues enacted to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Speak a professional physical therapist — It’s in your best interest to see a doctor before a new season or starting up a new activity or training regimen. During your visit, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Murphy, MO is a good idea for you. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to reduce the risk of injury, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, your injury history, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for Older Murphy, MO Adults

Falls in senior citizens were responsible for over 3 million urgent care admissions and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that being physical active can go a long way in preventing falls. Other conditions that cause pain like arthritis that develop over the course of several years can be slowed down by physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints active. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, appropriate strength, stability, flexibility, and good posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Murphy, 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

Murphy, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in something you love doing causes a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same exultation. The professional Murphy, 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 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. Make an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to discover what our Murphy, MO injury prevention experts can do for you.