Injury Prevention in Pacific, MO. Whether you play a sport and are hoping for an opportunity at the next level, or you just retired and want to spend more time hiking, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you desire. While our licensed Pacific, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to heal after an 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 reduce the risk of injury. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Pacific, MO people’s lives. We love activities like playing sports, hiking, and more. Additionally, keeping an active lifestyle reduces the risk of significant 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 Pacific, MO physical therapists help you come back even stronger after an injury, but our injury prevention professionals can help keep you active 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 developed uniquely for each client and the activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a lingering injury that won’t heal on its own, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Pacific, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can continue with your sport or hobby, read on below or inquire about an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Pacific, MO

Injuries typically happen for one of two reasons:

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 baseball or basketball players, with joint pain usually being the first symptom.
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, twisting joints, fractures, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, such as rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, such as ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

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

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, 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 supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can cause overemphasis for one set of muscles, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. It also prevents you from having good posture, 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 insufficient muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong chest and weak back, 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

Personalized injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Pacific, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, 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
• Decreased balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Pacific, MO, we’ll discuss your medical history and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, in concert with with your physician or any other medical professionals treating you, we’ll create a personalized plan of attack based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your movement health to the level you need it to to do what you love.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with slouched shoulders. People who play sports and others with active lifestyles can suffer from postural dysfunction when lying down, sitting, or in certain poses necessary for a given activity. Healthy posture refers to proper alignments of the neck, torso, pelvis, and extremities in a way that keeps the spine within 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 reach optimal motion health. It can also lead to:

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

Good posture is a necessary part of injury prevention because it ensures muscle balance, range of motion, and that your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Pacific, 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 several steps you can take to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• Take a rest — Injuries are more common when you do not give your body time to restore itself. 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 have a more moderate activity level, take a break after activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Use protective equipment — Helmets, shin guards, elbow pads, and other required equipment in many sports helps you avoid injuries such as contusions or head injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or muscle, tendon, or ligament, your Pacific, MO doctor or injury prevention professional may recommend stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further protection.
• Improve muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them stand up to the force and torque of heavy activity. Our Pacific, MO injury prevention specialists will work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Improve flexibility — Increasing your flexibility accomplishes three important things for injury prevention:
  1. It improves which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which allows for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to handle more extreme positions.
  2. It increases circulation, which allows for nutrient-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and rebuilding the muscles.
  3. It increases your posture, which, as we’ve discussed, is an important part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like football that require sudden twists and movements require muscles and tendons flexible enough to store and exert the high amount of energy required. Also, don’t forget to stretch and warm up before games or training to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use proper technique — In every sport, there is an accepted way to position and move your body. These techniques not only help you perform better but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of a head injury, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to use the appropriate muscles. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to break down your movement and educate you on 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 is wrong. If you feel sudden pain, immediately withdraw from the activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous training session, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate an athlete that guts it out 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 on the sidelines for much longer than you would have been sitting out. Depending on the severity of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, seeing your doctor, and a series of physical therapy sessions to ensure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Play by 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 were adopted to keep players safe. Those were enacted for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Consult a professional physical therapist — It’s always advisable to see a doctor before another season begins or starting up a new activity or training regimen. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a professional physical therapist in Pacific, MO is right for you. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to prevent injury, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, any previous injuries, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Pacific, MO

Falls in adults over 65 were responsible for over 3 million emergency room visits and over 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that physical activity is invaluable in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions that limit mobility 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 older adults typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and correct posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Pacific, 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

Pacific, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in one of your favorite activities causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same joy. The knowledgeable Pacific, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to develop your personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body as safe and healthy as can be, 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 contact the location nearest you to learn more about what our Pacific, MO injury prevention professionals can do for you.