Injury Prevention in Parkdale, MO. Whether you play a sport and are trying to get a shot 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 activities you love. While our professional Parkdale, MO physical therapists spend much of their time helping athletes and others heal after an injury, we are experts in the entire musculoskeletal system who can evaluate your movement, muscle and joint strength, and flexibility to guide you through techniques that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or call the location most convenient for you.

Physical activity is an essential part of many Parkdale, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in activities like playing sports, swimming, or other physical activities. Additionally, committing to an active lifestyle helps stave off future health problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia, anxiety, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Parkdale, MO physical therapists help you return to action as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention specialists can help you reduce the risk of further injury by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our methods, both when helping restore motion health and when looking to improve it, have been prove to work and are developed uniquely for each client and the level of activity they want to reach.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a nagging injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location nearest you in Parkdale, MO for a free injury screening. To take preventative measures and protect your sport or hobby, read on below or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Parkdale, MO

Injuries typically happen for one of two reasons:

1. Chronic injuries are injuries that occur when a part of the body repeats the same motion time and time again. They are common in overhead athletes athletes who use throwing or striking motions, with joint pain usually being the first indicator.
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 either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, like ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with a sudden impact to the knee.

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

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and are sometimes unpreventable, they generally happen because of dysfunction or instability and your body and between body parts. There are three chief causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can lead to an overreliance on one muscle group, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. 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 insufficient muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong bicep and weak tricep, or in the same muscle group, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Muscle imbalance can result in:

• Muscle weakness
• Muscle inflexibility
• Poor muscle recruitment
• Poor coordination

Personalized injury prevention with our certified physical therapists in Parkdale, MO will ensure that your muscles are at optimal proportional strength.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, increasing your risk of injury. Problems in your nervous system, inflammation, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. Symptoms include:

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

When you first see our injury prevention experts in Parkdale, MO, we’ll discuss your medical records and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, in concert with with your physician or any additional providers treating you, we’ll create a personalized game plan 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 in the same position. People who play sports and other physically active people can suffer from postural dysfunction when at lest, using the computer, or in certain body positions necessary for a given activity. Correct posture means correct positioning of the different joints and muscles of your body in a way that does not remove the spine from 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 the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. Symptoms include:

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

By guiding you to correct 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.

How to Prevent Injury in Parkdale, 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 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 naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you’re moderately active, take a break for the few hours after an activity so your body doesn’t become too fatigued.
• Use protective equipment — Helmets, chin straps, elbow pads, and other recommended equipment in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries such as bruises or head injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or muscle, tendon, or ligament, your Parkdale, MO doctor or physical therapist may suggest stabilizing braces or Kinesio Taping®. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
• Improve muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them withstand the force and torque of heavy activity. In your customized injury prevention program with our certified Parkdale, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to be able to stay healthy in the activities you want to participate in.
• Boost flexibility — Stretching accomplishes three critical things for injury prevention:
  1. It enhances your range of motion, which allows for your tendons and ligaments to adapt to more forceful positions.
  2. It boosts blood flow, which allows for nutrient-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to heal.
  3. It improves your posture, which we already know is an an important part of injury prevention.

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

• Use correct technique — In every sport, there are accepted techniques to use. These techniques not only help you perform better but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players are taught to tackle a certain way to avoid a concussion, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and educate you on how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — 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 a sudden crack or grinding sensation, immediately stop all physical activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous workout, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though playing through pain is often viewed as a valiant act among competitors, forcing your body to perform with soft tissue or structural damage 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, visiting your doctor, and rehab with a physical therapist to ensure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Follow the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules to reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for leading with the helmet in football, rules against coming from behind in soccer, and even the presence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are examples of rules that were adopted to keep players safe. There’s a reason those rules exist, and a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Consult a licensed physical therapist — It’s a good idea to have a medical evaluation before starting another season or starting up a new physical activity. During your physical, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a knowledgeable physical therapist in Parkdale, MO is right for you. All of our techniques have been proven to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to how old you are, any previous injuries, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for Older Parkdale, MO Adults

Falls in adults over 65 accounted for over 3 million urgent care admissions and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that physical activity is a great method for reducing the risk of 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 healthy. While the physical demands for seniors may not be as high as an athlete, the same principles of strength, balance, flexibility, and optimal posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Parkdale, 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

Parkdale, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in something you love doing can create a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same joy. The licensed Parkdale, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to design for you a 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 doing most. You deserve to feel 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 discover what our Parkdale, MO injury prevention professionals can do for you.