Old Jamestown, MO

Old Jamestown, MO

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

Injury Prevention in Old Jamestown, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to improve your performance, or a recent retiree who wants to spend more time being physical fit, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our licensed Old Jamestown, 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 teach out measures that are proven to prevent injury. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or call the location nearest you.

Physical activity is an essential part of many Old Jamestown, MO people’s lives. We love activities such as playing sports, biking, and more. Furthermore, pursuing an active lifestyle reduces the risk of serious health problems like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, eurodegenerative disease, depression, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Old Jamestown, MO physical therapists help you return to action and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention professionals 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, have been prove to work 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 Old Jamestown, MO for a free injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can keep up with your active lifestyle, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Old Jamestown, MO

Injuries generally happen for one of two reasons:

  1. Repetitive demand injuries are injuries happen gradually as a body part degrades because of repetitive movements. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes such as tennis or quarterbacks and typically reveal themselves with joint pain.
  2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen in an instant. Examples include landing on uneven ground or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, for example rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with a sudden impact to the knee.

Injury Prevention Old Jamestown, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Old Jamestown

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Old Jamestown, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally happen because of dysfunction or instability 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 probability 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:

Customized injury prevention with our experienced physical therapists in Old Jamestown, MO will ensure that your muscles are at optimal proportional strength.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body bending in unnatural ways, causing injury. It can be caused by a variety of musculoskeletal issues. It can cause injury through:

  • Joint mobility restrictions
  • Muscle imbalance
  • Poor coordination
  • Lessened balance

When you first see our injury prevention professionals in Old Jamestown, MO, we’ll evaluate your medical records and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, alongside with your physician or any other medical professionals involved in your treatment, we’ll come up with a customized plan of attack been proven to work by research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people who spend a lot of time doing the same activity. Athletes and other physically active people can have postural dysfunction when lying down, using the computer, or in specific stances necessary for their sport. Optimal posture means correct alignments 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 compact the joints in the spine, which interferes with our body’s ability to communicate with itself and achieve 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

By helping you understand good posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring muscle balance, range of motion, and that your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.



Injury Prevention Methods in Old Jamestown, 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 things you can do to make sure your body is prepared 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, one or two rest days a week will allow your body to engage in its natural healing processes. If you have a more moderate activity level, take a break for the few hours after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
  • Use protective equipment — Helmets, chin straps, safety pads and guards, and other equipment necessary in many sports can help prevent injuries like bruises or brain injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Old Jamestown, MO physician or physical therapist may suggest stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other techniques like tying your athletic footwear tightly can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
  • Strengthen muscles — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the force and torque your body is put through in sports and other activities. Our Old Jamestown, MO injury prevention professionals will work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the smaller muscles needed to be able to stay healthy in the activities you want to participate in.
  • Boost flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
    1. It enhances your range of motion, which allows for your soft tissue to adjust to more drastic movements.
    2. It improves blood flow, which carries protein-rich blood to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and rebuilding the muscles.
    3. It boosts your posture, which, as you read earlier, is 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 with sufficient flexibility to perform those movements. Also, remember to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

  • Use proper technique — In every physical activity, there is an accepted way to position and move your body. These techniques not only help you get be the best player you can be but help prevent injuries. Football players are taught to tackle with the shoulder in order to avoid a head injury, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to make sure their muscles are moving unnaturally. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to break down your movement and evaluate how to improve it.
  • Listen to your body — 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 a sudden crack or grinding sensation, stop immediately and seek proportional medical care. 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 playing through pain is often viewed as a courageous act among competitors, forcing your body to perform with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could make that injury worse and leave you on the sidelines for much longer than if you had sat out at the time of the injury. Depending on the severity of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, and rehab with a physical therapist to make sure your body heals naturally and can withstand 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 slide-tackling in soccer, and even the presence of bike lanes are examples of rules that leagues enacted 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 committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a professional physical therapist in Old Jamestown, MO is right for you. All of our techniques have been proven to reduce the risk of 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 Old Jamestown, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Old Jamestown

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Old Jamestown, MO

Falls in adults over 65 were responsible for over 3 million urgent care admissions and over 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that physical activity is a great method for preventing falls. Other conditions like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints healthy. While seniors typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and proper posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Old Jamestown, MO include:

Old Jamestown, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in in an activity you prepare and train for and love causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same exhilaration. The experienced Old Jamestown, 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. Make an appointment online or call the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention specialists in Old Jamestown, MO.

Services Offered

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

Our Team

Sara Crain
PT, CEAS, Astym Cert.
Brandi Arndt
MPT, CMPT
Brett Shelton
PT, DPT, OCS, COMT, CSMT
John Teepe
Partner, MPT
TJ Jung
PT, DPT
Justin Bridwell
Front Office
Chris Casner
PT, Clinic Director

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

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