Sappington, MO

Sappington, MO

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

Injury Prevention in Sappington, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or are entering your golden years and want to spend more time bike riding, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our certified Sappington, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to recover from 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. Schedule an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or reach out to the location most convenient for you.

Being physically active is vitally important to many Sappington, MO residents. Many of us participate in activities such as playing sports, swimming, or other physical activities. Furthermore, committing to an active lifestyle helps prevent chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, eurodegenerative disease, mental health issues, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Sappington, MO physical therapists allow you to come back even stronger after an injury, but our injury prevention experts can help you reduce the risk of further injury by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our methods, for both healing from and preventing injury, have been prove to work and are customized for each client and the lifestyle they desire.

If you’ve recently suffered an injury, or have a lingering injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Sappington, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and protect your sport or hobby, read on below or inquire about an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Sappington, MO

Injuries typically happen for one of two reasons:

  1. Repetitive motion injuries are injuries that occur when a part of the body repeats the same motion time and time again. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes athletes who are required to repeat throwing or striking motions, with joint pain usually being the first warning sign.
  2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include landing on uneven ground or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, such as rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, like ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

Injury Prevention Sappington, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Sappington

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

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally occur because your muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, and joints cannot handle the force, torque, or stretching that are required or are possible in a given activity. There are three primary causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is essential to supporting joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can lead to an overreliance on one set of muscles, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also causes posture dysfunction, and one set of muscles becoming fatigued more quickly, increasing the risk of injury. Muscle imbalance applies to poor muscle balance between 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:

Tailored injury prevention with our experienced physical therapists in Sappington, MO will ensure that different muscles and muscle groups are equally strong.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body moving in ways it is not designed to, causing injury. It can be caused by a variety of musculoskeletal issues. It can lead to:

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

When you initially visit our injury prevention experts in Sappington, MO, we’ll go through your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, alongside with your doctor or any other providers involved in your care, we’ll design a customized treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people who sit a lot. Athletes and other physically active people can suffer from postural dysfunction when resting, using the computer, or in specific stances they need to be in for their sport. Optimal posture means correct positioning of the different joints and muscles of your body 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 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 the best practices for posture, we’ll aid in your injury prevention by ensuring you are using the right muscles for the right movements, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your spine is in its natural position.



Keys to Injury Prevention in Sappington, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to reduce that risk. No one safety tip is 100% foolproof in injury prevention. However, there are several steps you can take to make sure your body is strong and flexible enough for your intended activity:

  • Take breaks — Your body needs time to rest and recover after any moderate to intense activity. If you have a very high activity level, make sure to take one or two days off per week to 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, chin straps, protective eyewear, and other required equipment in many sports can help prevent injuries such as cuts or brain injuries. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Sappington, MO doctor or injury prevention specialist may recommend braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other measures like tying your athletic footwear tightly offers further stabilization.
  • Increase muscle strength — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them withstand the rigors of heavy activity. Our Sappington, MO injury prevention experts will work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you love.
  • Increase flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
    1. It enhances which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which lets for your tendons and ligaments to handle more extreme positions.
    2. It boosts blood flow, which carries nourishing blood to your muscles, eliminating waste byproduct and fortifying the muscles.
    3. It boosts your posture, which we already know is an an important part of injury prevention.

    According to research, sports like football that require sudden twists and movements require muscles and tendons flexible enough to perform those movements. Also, it’s important to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

  • Use correct technique — In every sport, there are accepted techniques to use. These techniques not only help you get be the best player you can be but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to reduce the risk of a head injury, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to use the appropriate muscles. We utilize 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 you feel pain in a muscle or joint, that means that body part is telling your brain that something isn’t right. If you feel a sudden crack or grinding sensation, immediately withdraw from the activity 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 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 put you out of commission for much longer than if you had sat out at the time of the injury. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, visiting your doctor, and a series of physical therapy sessions to ensure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
  • Follow the rules — Many sports have special rules at different levels to help prevent injury. Penalties for helmet to helmet hits 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 leagues enacted to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. Those were enacted for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
  • Consult a licensed physical therapist — It’s always advisable to get a physical before a new season or starting up a new physical activity. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Sappington, MO is something you should consider. 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 Sappington, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Sappington

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Sappington, MO

Falls in senior citizens accounted for more than 3 million emergency room admissions and over 34,000 fatalities. Research demonstrates that being physical active is invaluable in preventing falls. Other conditions like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints strong. While seniors typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, the same principles of strength, balance, flexibility, and ideal posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Sappington, MO include:

Sappington, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love causes a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same freedom. The licensed Sappington, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body as safe and healthy as can be, and your mind at ease 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 of doing what you do best. Request an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention professionals in Sappington, MO.

Services Offered

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

Our Team

Stephen Brunjes
OTR/L, CEAS
Brian Wahlig
Front Office Supervisor
Sarah Schroeder
MOTR/L, CHT, Astym Cert
Mandy Carter
MSPT, CMPT, ATC, CWC
Ray Bauer
Clinic Director, MSPT, CMPT

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

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