St. Clair, MO

St. Clair, MO

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

Injury Prevention in St. Clair, MO. Whether you’re an athlete and want to up your game, or are entering your golden years and want to dedicate your time to taking ski vacations, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our certified St. Clair, 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 nearest you.

Being physically active is an essential part of many St. Clair, MO people’s lives. We love activities such as playing sports, biking, and more. Additionally, committing to an active lifestyle helps stave off chronic conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, degenerative brain diseases, depression, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed St. Clair, MO physical therapists allow you to return to action even stronger after an injury, but our injury prevention professionals can help you reduce the risk of further injury by optimizing your overall movement health. All of our treatment plans, both when helping restore motion health and when looking to improve it, are proven to be effective and are developed uniquely for each client and the level of activity they want to reach.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a persistent injury that just won’t go away, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in St. Clair, MO for a free 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 today.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in St. Clair, MO

Most injuries fall into two categories:

  1. Overuse injuries are injuries that are caused by repetitive movements over time. In sports, we see them the most in in overhead athletes athletes who are required to repeat throwing or striking motions and commonly are accompanied by joint pain.
  2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include landing on uneven ground or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, fractures, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, like rotator cuff tears, can either develop over time or occur suddenly. Other injuries, such as ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

Injury Prevention St. Clair, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near St. Clair

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in St. Clair, 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 hold up under the force, torque, or stretching that are required or are possible in a given activity. There are three common dysfunctions that lead to injury:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to maintaining healthy joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can cause dependency on one muscle group, which may cause your body to use it in a way it shouldn’t. It also prevents you from having good posture, and the weaker muscles will become fatigued sooner, increasing the risk of injury. Muscle imbalance can refer to inadequate muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong chest and weak back, or in the same muscle group, such as the four muscles in the rotator cuff not having proportionate strength. Muscle imbalance can result in:

Personalized injury prevention with our licensed physical therapists in St. Clair, 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, increasing your risk of injury. Neurological issues, swelling, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. Symptoms include:

  • Joint mobility limitations
  • Muscle imbalance
  • Coordination deficits
  • Lessened balance

At our first injury prevention appointment in St. Clair, MO, we’ll go over your medical records and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, together with your physician or any additional medical professionals involved in your treatment, we’ll develop a customized 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 other physically active people can be affected by postural dysfunction when at lest, driving, or in certain positions necessary for their sport. Good posture means proper alignments of the neck, torso, pelvis, and extremities in a way that keeps the spine within its natural curves. Poor posture can compact the bones of the spine, 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 can also lead to:

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

Good posture is an important 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 St. Clair, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to prevent one. No one technique is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are things you can do 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 have a very high activity level, make sure to take one or two days off per week to encourage your body to naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you have a more modest activity level, take a break for the few hours after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
  • Use the appropriate equipment — Helmets, shin guards, elbow pads, and other recommended equipment in many sports can help prevent injuries such as lacerations or head injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your St. Clair, MO physician or injury prevention professional may suggest braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other methods like making sure all the equipment is snug can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
  • Improve muscle strength — Strengthening soft tissue helps it withstand the rigors necessary for in sports and other activities. In your personalized injury prevention program with our expert St. Clair, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to be able to avoid injury 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 lets for the tendons and ligaments connecting your muscles to your bones to adjust to more forceful movements.
    2. It increases circulation, which allows for nutrient-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to restore themselves.
    3. It increases your posture, which, as we’ve discussed, is an essential part of injury prevention.

    According to research, sports like soccer that include bouncing and jumping require soft tissue with sufficient flexibility to store and exert the high amount of energy required. Also, remember to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

  • Use accepted technique — Through the years, each sport and physical activity develops a consensus of the best techniques to use. These techniques not only improve performance but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to avoid a concussion, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best apply torque to your body. We utilize 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 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 sudden pain, stop immediately and seek proportional medical care. 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 a player that guts it out through pain, playing with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could aggravate an existing injury and leave you off the field or court for longer than it originally would have. Depending on the severity of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, and a series of physical therapy sessions to make sure your body heals properly and can handle the activity you want to return to.
  • Play by the rules — Most sports have special rules at different levels to reduce the risk of injury. Penalties for leading with the helmet in football, rules against head-first sliding in baseball, and even the existence of bike lanes are examples of rules that leagues enacted to keep participants safe. Those were enacted for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
  • Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s a good idea to see a doctor before a new season or starting up a new physical activity. During your visit, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a experienced physical therapist in St. Clair, MO is right for you. All of our techniques have been proven to prevent injury, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to how old you are, any previous injuries, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention St. Clair, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near St. Clair

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in St. Clair, MO

Falls in the elderly accounted for over 3 million urgent care visits and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that being physical active is a great method for reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like arthritis that are wear and tear injuries can be slowed down by physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints strong. While the physical demands for seniors may not be as high as an athlete, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and ideal posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in St. Clair, MO include:

St. Clair, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in one of your favorite activities causes a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same exhilaration. The knowledgeable St. Clair, 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 confident that you can safely return to the activities you love. You deserve to feel the physical and mental health benefits that you once valued so much. Request an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to discover what our St. Clair, MO injury prevention professionals can do for you.

Services Offered

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

Our Team

Stephen Brunjes
OTR/L, CEAS
Danielle O’Rando
Front Office
Sharon Titter
Clinic Director, MPT

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

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