Injury Prevention in Webster Groves, 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 Webster Groves, MO physical therapists work extensively with athletes and others to recover from injury, we are complete movement health specialists who can evaluate your body’s current condition and how you move to teach out techniques that are proven to reduce the risk of injury by preparing your body for the stressors of your desired activity. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location most convenient for you.

Physical activity is an essential part of many Webster Groves, MO people’s lives. Many of us participate in active endeavors like playing sports, biking, or other physical activities. Additionally, pursuing an active lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, anxiety, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Webster Groves, MO physical therapists help you come back and perform even better than before, 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, are based on evidence-backed techniques 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 lingering injury that won’t heal on its own, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Webster Groves, MO for a free injury screening. To take preventative measures and ensure that you can keep up with your sport or hobby, keep reading or inquire about an appointment today.

Injuries Axes PT Can Help Prevent in Webster Groves, MO

Most injuries fall into two categories:

1. Repetitive motion 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 are required to repeat throwing or striking motions, with joint pain usually being the first warning sign.
2. Acute injuries are injuries that happen in an instant. Examples include falling or a sudden impact by an object or another person. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, broken bones, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, like rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, for example ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Webster Groves, MO

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and some are unpreventable, they generally occur because of dysfunction or imbalance and your body and between body parts. There are three primary causes of why your body cannot adjust to an activity:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is key to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can lead to overemphasis for one set of muscles, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. 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. Injuries can be caused by insufficient muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong hamstring and weak quadriceps, 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
• Coordination deficiency

Personalized injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Webster Groves, 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, causing injury. Neurological issues, inflammation, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. Symptoms include:

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

When you first see our injury prevention experts in Webster Groves, MO, we’ll go through 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 medical professionals treating you, we’ll devise a personalized game plan been proven to work by research and studies to get your body moving as it should.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture is not just an issue for people with desk jobs. People who play sports and other physically active people can be affected by postural dysfunction when resting, driving, or in specific stances related to their sport. Correct posture refers to correct alignments when both static and moving in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the joints in the spine closer together, which disrupts communication between your brain and body and makes it difficult to achieve optimal motion health. Symptoms include:

• 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 your muscles equally, your flexibility can be improved and maintained, and your spine is in its natural position.

Keys to Injury Prevention in Webster Groves, MO

You can still suffer an injury even if you did everything you could to reduce that risk. We cannot promise that our injury prevention program completely negates the risk of injury. However, there are things you can do to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• Take breaks — Injuries are more common in overworked bodies. If you have a very high activity level, 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 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 required equipment in many sports helps you avoid injuries such as lacerations or concussions. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or soft tissue, your Webster Groves, MO doctor or injury prevention specialist may suggest braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other measures like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further protection.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening soft tissue helps it stand up to the force and torque of heavy activity. Our Webster Groves, MO injury prevention experts will work to build up your body to safely participate in the activities you want to participate in.
• Increase 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 adapt to more drastic movements.
  2. It improves blood flow, which allows for nourishing blood to flow to your muscles, removing waste byproduct and fortifying the muscles.
  3. It encourages good posture, which, as you read earlier, is an important part of injury prevention.

  According to research, sports like football that require bouncing and jumping require muscles and tendons with sufficient flexibility to perform those movements. Stretching and warm up exercises before activities further helps prevent injuries.

• Use proper technique — In every physical activity, there is an accepted way to position and move your body. These techniques not only improve performance but help prevent injuries by not forcing your body into unnatural positions and movements. Football players learn to tackle a certain way to reduce the risk of a concussion, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We use DorsaVi video motion analysis to slow down your movement and analyze how to both be a better athlete and reduce your risk of injury.
• Listen to your body — If you feel pain in a muscle or joint, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel sudden pain, stop immediately and get the appropriate medical treatment. If your body isn’t holing up well in an intense training session, don’t force it.
• Don’t play through an injury — While gutting it out through pain is often viewed as a valiant act among competitors, playing 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, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, and rehab with a physical therapist to make sure your body heals properly and can handle the activity you want to return to.
• Follow the rules — Many 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 all rules put in place to prevent injuries to ourselves and others. Those are in place 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 a new season or committing yourself to any strenuous activity or training regimen. While there, ask your doctor if injury prevention with a experienced physical therapist in Webster Groves, MO is something you should consider. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to prevent injury, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to your age, any previous injuries, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention for The Elderly in Webster Groves, MO

Falls in senior citizens accounted for more than 3 million urgent care visits and more than 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that physical activity is a great method for preventing falls. Other conditions that limit mobility such as arthritis that accumulate over time can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints healthy. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, the same principles of strength, stability, flexibility, and good posture are great agents in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Webster Groves, MO include:

• Stroke Rehabilitation
• Hip Replacement Physical Therapy
• Workers Comp' Physical Therapy
• Migraine Relief
• Sprain and Strain Treatment
• Geriatric Physical Therapy
• Injury Rehabilitation
• Pain Management Services
• TMJ Treatment
• Herniated Disc Treatment

Webster Groves, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in in an activity you prepare and train for and love can create a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same happiness. The experienced Webster Groves, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to develop your 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 of doing what you do best. Schedule an appointment online or call the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention professionals in Webster Groves, MO.