Injury Prevention in Town and Country, MO. Whether you play a sport and are trying to get a shot at the next stage, or a recent retiree who wants to dedicate your time to camping, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our professional Town and Country, 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 teach out exercises that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Physical activity is vitally important to many Town and Country, MO residents. Many of us participate in active endeavors such as playing sports, playing golf, or other physical activities. Additionally, committing to an active lifestyle helps stave off chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, eurodegenerative disease, anxiety, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Town and Country, MO physical therapists allow you to come back even stronger after an injury, but our injury prevention specialists can help keep you active 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 personalized to each client and the lifestyle they desire.

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 Town and Country, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To take preventative measures and protect your active lifestyle, keep reading or call to speak to a physical therapist at your earliest convenience.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Town and Country, MO

Most injuries fall into two categories:

1. Repetitive demand injuries are injuries happen gradually as a body part degrades because of repetitive movements. They are common in overhead athletes such as baseball or lacrosse players, 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, broken bones, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, like rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, like ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Town and Country, MO

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and are sometimes inescapable, they generally happen because your soft tissue, bones, and joints cannot handle the force, torque, or stretching that are required or are possible in a given activity. There are three chief causes of why your body cannot adjust to an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is crucial to maintaining healthy joints and preventing injury. Imbalance can lead to dependency on one set of muscles, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. It can also lead to poor posture, and one set of muscles becoming tired sooner, making them more susceptible to injuries. Muscle imbalance can refer to insufficient muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong bicep and weak tricep, or within muscle groups, such as an imbalance between the four muscles of the rotator cuff. Symptoms include:

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

Customized injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Town and Country, MO will ensure that different muscles and muscle groups are equally strong.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, increasing your risk of injury. It can be caused by many different musculoskeletal issues. Symptoms include:

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

When you initially see our injury prevention specialists in Town and Country, MO, we’ll discuss your medical records 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 develop a tailored treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your movement back on track.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people who sit a lot. Athletes and other physically active people can have postural dysfunction when at lest, sitting, or in specific body positions related to a given activity. Correct posture refers to correct alignments when both static and moving in a way that encourages our spine to stay in its natural curves. Poor posture can compact the joints in the spine, which disrupts communication between your brain and body and makes it difficult to achieve optimal movement 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 you are using the right muscles for the right movements, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your nervous system can communicate as its intended to.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Town and Country, MO

All sports and physical activities can potentially lead to an injury. No one technique is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are several steps you can take 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, 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, 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, safety pads and guards, and other recommended equipment in sports and other activities helps you avoid injuries such as cuts or concussions. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Town and Country, MO doctor or physical therapist may fit you for braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the affected area. Other methods like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further protection.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it withstand the force and torque of heavy activity. Our Town and Country, MO injury prevention specialists will work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you love.
• Increase flexibility — Stretching contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It increases your range of motion, which allows for your tendons and ligaments to handle more dramatic movements.
  2. It boosts circulation, which carries nutrient-rich blood to your soft tissue, eliminating waste byproduct and re-energizing the muscles.
  3. It improves your posture, which, as you read earlier, is an important part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like basketball that include bouncing and jumping require soft tissue flexible enough to perform those movements. Also, don’t forget to stretch and warm up before any physical activity to further reduce the risk of injury.

• Use proper technique — Through the years, each sport and physical activity develops a consensus of the best ways to position and move your body. These techniques not only help you get be the best player you can be but help prevent injuries. Football players learn to tackle with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of 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 slow down your movement and evaluate how to both improve your performance and reduce your risk of injury.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, that’s your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. If you feel a sudden pop or grinding sensation, immediately stop all physical activity and seek proportional medical care. If your body isn’t holing up well in an intense workout, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate a player that plays through pain, playing with soft tissue or structural damage could make that injury worse and leave you on the sidelines for longer than it originally would have. Depending on what caused your injury and how severe it is, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, seeing urgent care, and a series of physical therapy sessions to make sure your body heals naturally and can withstand the activity you want to return to.
• Play by the rules — Depending on the sport or activity and age level of the participants, it likely has special rules in the interest of safety. Penalties for leading with the helmet in football, rules against head-first sliding in baseball, and even the presence of special lanes on the street and sidewalk for bikers are examples of rules that were adopted to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. Those were enacted for a reason, and there’s a reason that there are penalties for them.
• Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s always advisable to see a doctor before starting another season or committing yourself to any strenuous physical activity. During your visit, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a expert physical therapist in Town and Country, MO is a good idea for you. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to prevent injury, 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 Town and Country, MO Adults

Falls in the elderly were responsible for over 3 million urgent care visits and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that physical activity can go a long way in preventing falls. Other conditions that limit mobility such as arthritis that accumulate over time can be more bearable and take longer to progress with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints strong. While older adults typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and ideal posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Town and Country, MO include:

• Shin Splint Treatment
• Direct Access Physical Therapy
• Gait Analysis
• Pelvic Floor Therapy
• Dry Needling Near Me
• Tendonitis Treatment
• Manual Physical Therapy
• Orthopedic Rehab Near Me
• Beginner Running Program
• Chronic Pain Treatment

Town and Country, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love can lead to a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same euphoria. The knowledgeable Town and Country, 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 confident 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 that you once valued so much. Schedule an appointment online or contact the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention professionals in Town and Country, MO.