Injury Prevention in Villa Ridge, MO. Whether you play a sport and are trying to get a shot at the next level, or a recent retiree who wants to dedicate your time to taking ski vacations, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you desire. While our licensed Villa Ridge, 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 teach out methods 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.

Being physically active is an essential part of many Villa Ridge, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in active endeavors such as playing sports, swimming, and more. Additionally, pursuing an active lifestyle reduces the risk of serious health problems including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, eurodegenerative disease, mental health issues, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Villa Ridge, MO physical therapists help you return to action and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention professionals can help preserve your active lifestyle 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 activities they want to return to.

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 nearest you in Villa Ridge, MO for a complimentary 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.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Villa Ridge, MO

Injuries generally fall into two categories:

1. Repetitive demand 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 indicator.
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 common injuries, such as rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, like ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, with an immediate impact to or twisting of the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Villa Ridge, MO

While anyone can suffer an injury almost at any time and for numerous different reasons, they generally occur because of dysfunction or instability and your body and between body parts. There are three main causes of why your body cannot handle an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to supporting joints and staving off injury. Imbalance can cause overemphasis for one muscle group, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It also causes posture dysfunction, and one set of muscles becoming tired sooner, increasing the risk 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 the four muscles in the rotator cuff having different levels of strength. Muscle imbalance can lead to:

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

Personalized injury prevention with our certified physical therapists in Villa Ridge, 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, causing injury. It can be caused by many different musculoskeletal issues. It can lead to:

• Joint mobility restrictions
• Muscle imbalance
• Coordination deficits
• Reduced balance

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Villa Ridge, MO, we’ll go through your medical records and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, in concert with with your doctor or any other medical professionals involved in your treatment, we’ll develop a personalized game plan 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 doesn’t just affect people with slouched shoulders. People who play sports and other physically active people can have postural dysfunction when at lest, driving, or in specific stances related to a given activity. Healthy posture refers to proper alignments when both static and moving in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can compact the bones of the spine, which disrupts our body’s internal communications and makes it difficult to reach optimal motion health. It can also lead to:

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

Good posture is a vital part of injury prevention because it ensures muscle balance, flexibility, and that your vertebrae remain in place.

How to Prevent Injury in Villa Ridge, 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 things you can do to make sure your body is prepared for your desired activity level:

• Take a rest — Your body needs time to rest and recover after any moderate to intense activity. If you have a very high activity level, one or two rest days a week will signal to your body to naturally heal any mild pain or soreness. If you’re moderately active, take it easy for the few hours after an activity so you don’t overwork your muscles and joints.
• Use protective equipment — Helmets, mouth guards, protective eyewear, and other recommended equipment in many sports can help prevent injuries like cuts or brain injuries. If you’ve had a previous injury, your Villa Ridge, MO doctor or physical therapist may suggest braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the affected area. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug can further help injury prevention by stabilizing your joints.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it withstand the force and torque of heavy activity. Our Villa Ridge, MO injury prevention experts will work to build up your body to be able to avoid injury in the activities you love.
• Boost flexibility — Increasing your flexibility contributes to injury prevention in three way:
  1. It increases which movements you can make and how far you can extend them, which allows for your soft tissue to adapt to more extreme positions.
  2. It improves circulation, which allows for nutrient-rich blood to flow to your soft tissue, removing waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to restore themselves.
  3. It encourages good posture, which, as we’ve discussed, is is one of the most important factors of injury prevention.

  According to studies, sports like soccer that require dynamic activities require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before activities further helps prevent injuries.

• Use correct 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 with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of a concussion, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to make sure their muscles are moving unnaturally. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to capture how you move and educate you on how to both improve your performance and prevent injury.
• Listen to your body — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, that’s your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. If you feel sudden pain, stop immediately and seek proportional medical care. If your body does not feel well enough for a particularly rigorous workout, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — While teammates, competitors, and fans appreciate a player that plays 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 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 an emergency room, and rehab with a physical therapist to ensure your body heals naturally and can handle the activity you want to return to.
• Follow the rules — Many sports have special rules at different levels to help prevent injury. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against head-first sliding in baseball, and even the presence of bike lanes are examples of rules put in place to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. 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 get a physical before a new season or starting up a new activity or training regimen. While there, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Villa Ridge, MO is something you should consider. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to help athletes remain healthy, and we’ll personalize your program to your age, your injury history, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Villa Ridge, MO

Falls in senior citizens accounted for over 3 million urgent care visits and more than 34,000 deaths. Studies show that being physical active is a great method for preventing 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 older adults may not be as high as an athlete, appropriate strength, stability, flexibility, and correct posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Villa Ridge, MO include:

• 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
• Hip Replacement Physical Therapy

Villa Ridge, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in something you love doing can lead to a mental block that won’t allow us to experience the same freedom. The experienced Villa Ridge, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to develop your personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body strong and flexible, 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 do not want to lose. Make an appointment online or contact the location nearest you to discover what our Villa Ridge, MO injury prevention specialists can do for you.