Injury Prevention in Olympian Village, MO. Whether you’re an athlete hoping for an opportunity at the next stage, or are entering your golden years and want to dedicate your time to bike riding, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our licensed Olympian Village, 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 body’s current condition and how you move to show you exercises 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 an essential part of many Olympian Village, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in active endeavors like playing sports, kayaking, and more. Furthermore, pursuing an active lifestyle reduces the risk of future health problems such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, degenerative brain diseases, mental health issues, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Olympian Village, MO physical therapists allow you to come back 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, for both healing from and preventing injury, are based on evidence-backed techniques and are customized for each client and the activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a nagging injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Olympian Village, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and ensure that you can keep up with your sport or hobby, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Olympian Village, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

1. Overuse injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. They are common in overhead athletes such as raquetball or quarterbacks and typically are accompanied by joint pain.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen suddenly. Examples include falling or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, fractures, 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, for example ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with a sudden impact to the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Olympian Village, MO

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and some are unpreventable, they generally occur 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 result in overemphasis for one set of muscles, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. It also causes posture dysfunction, and the weaker muscles will become tired sooner, making them more susceptible to injuries. Muscle imbalance can refer to insufficient 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. Symptoms include:

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

Customized injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Olympian Village, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can result in poor balance and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, causing injury. It can be caused by a variety of musculoskeletal issues. It can lead to:

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

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Olympian Village, MO, we’ll go over your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your physician or any other providers treating you, we’ll come up with a customized game plan been proven to work through research and studies to get your movement health to reach its potential.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people with slouched shoulders. People who play sports and other physically active people can have postural dysfunction when lying down, sitting, or in specific positions related to a given activity. Healthy posture means correct positioning of your body from your head to your toes in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the bones of the spine closer together, which has a negative affect on our body’s ability to communicate with itself and achieve 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 teaching you correct posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring muscle balance, range of motion, and that your spine is in its natural position.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Olympian Village, MO

All sports and physical activities can potentially lead to an injury. No one safety tip is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are several steps you can take to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• Take a rest — Injuries are more common in overworked bodies. If you have a very high activity level, make sure to take one or two days off per week to encourage your body to engage in its natural healing and recovery processes. If you’re moderately active, take it easy after activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Use protective equipment — Helmets, shin guards, elbow pads, and other required equipment in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries like contusions or concussions. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Olympian Village, MO doctor or physical therapist may suggest braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other techniques like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further stabilization.
• Increase muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them withstand the rigors necessary for in sports and other activities. In your personalized injury prevention program with our experienced Olympian Village, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to achieve optimal muscle balance and strengthen the often forgotten muscles needed to be able to stay healthy in the activities you want to participate in.
• Increase flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It increases your range of motion, which lets for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to adjust to more drastic movements.
  2. It increases circulation, which carries nourishing blood to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to heal.
  3. It encourages good posture, which we already know is an is one of the most important aspects of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like basketball that require dynamic activities require muscles and tendons flexible enough to incorporate and exert the high levels of energy required. Stretching and warm up exercises before activities further helps prevent injuries.

• Use correct 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 by not forcing your body into unnatural positions and movements. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to reduce the risk of 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 evaluate how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — 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 something suddenly that doesn’t feel right, stop immediately and seek proportional medical care. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous training session, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — While gutting it out through pain is often seen as a heroic act among competitors, forcing your body to perform 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 nature of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting urgent care, and a series of physical therapy sessions to ensure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Play by the rules — Most sports have special rules at different levels in the interest of safety. Penalties for helmet to helmet hits in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the existence of bike lanes are all rules that were adopted to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that violations of those rules are punished.
• Consult a licensed physical therapist — It’s always advisable to get a physical before a new season or starting up a new physical activity. During your physical, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Olympian Village, MO is right for you. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to help athletes remain healthy, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to your age, any previous injuries, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Olympian Village, MO

Falls in adults over 65 accounted for more than 3 million urgent care visits and more than 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that being physical active is invaluable in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions that cause pain like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be slowed down by physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints active. While older adults typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, appropriate strength, stability, flexibility, and proper posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Olympian Village, 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

Olympian Village, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in one of your favorite activities causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same euphoria. The professional Olympian Village, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body prepared for the rigors of physical activity, and your mind at ease that you do not have to fear going back to what you love doing most. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits that you once valued so much. Make an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention experts in Olympian Village, MO.