Injury Prevention in Weldon Spring Heights, MO. Whether you’re an athlete hoping for an opportunity at the next level, or are entering your golden years and want to dedicate your time to camping, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love. While our professional Weldon Spring Heights, 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 body’s current condition and how you move to guide you through exercises that are proven to prevent injury. Request an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or contact the location nearest you.

Being physically active is vitally important to many Weldon Spring Heights, MO residents. Many of us participate in activities such as playing sports, swimming, or other physical activities. Furthermore, keeping an active lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, mental health issues, and certain cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Weldon Spring Heights, MO physical therapists allow you to come back and perform even better than before, but our injury prevention professionals can help keep you active by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. All of our treatment plans, for both recovery and injury prevention, have been prove to work and are personalized to each client and the activities they want to return to.

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 Weldon Spring Heights, MO for a complimentary injury screening. To reduce your chance of an injury and ensure that you can continue with your active lifestyle, keep reading or call to speak to a physical therapist today.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Weldon Spring Heights, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

1. Chronic 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 such as raquetball or quarterbacks and commonly reveal themselves with joint pain.
2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include falling or a sudden impact by an object or another person. These can result in bruises, twisting joints, fractures, and dislocations.

Some of the injuries we see most frequently, for example rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, like ACL tears, are almost always the result of trauma, such as receiving a direct blow to the knee.

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Weldon Spring Heights, MO

While injuries occur for many different reasons, and some are unpreventable, they generally happen because of dysfunction or imbalance and your body and between body parts. There are three common dysfunctions that lead to injury:

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is essential to supporting joints and reducing injury. Imbalance can result in overemphasis for one muscle group, which may cause your body to force it to participate in an activity it shouldn’t. It also causes posture dysfunction, and the weaker muscles will become tired faster, increasing the risk of injury. Injuries can be caused by insufficient muscle balance between muscle groups, such as having a strong chest and weak back, 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 experienced physical therapists in Weldon Spring Heights, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and impede your body’s ability to naturally perform functional movements, increasing your risk of injury. Problems in your nervous system, inflammation, previous injuries, and muscle imbalance call all contribute to movement dysfunction. It can lead to:

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

At our first injury prevention appointment in Weldon Spring Heights, MO, we’ll evaluate your medical records and analyze your current movement health, strength, and flexibility. Then, in tandem with with your physician or any additional providers treating you, we’ll come up with a personalized plan of attack been proven to work by 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 others with active lifestyles can be affected by postural dysfunction when lying down, 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 does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the joints in the spine closer together, which interferes with our body’s ability to communicate with itself and attain the strength and range of motion you need to achieve. Symptoms include:

• 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, range of motion, and that your spine is in its natural position.

How to Prevent Injury in Weldon Spring Heights, MO

All sports and physical activities carry an inherent risk of injury. We cannot promise that our injury prevention program completely negates the risk of injury. However, there are several steps you can take to greatly reduce the risk of injury:

• Take breaks — Injuries are more common when you do not give your body time to restore itself. If you have a very high activity level, one or two rest days a week will encourage your body to engage in its natural healing and recovery 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.
• Use protective equipment — Helmets, chin straps, safety pads and guards, and other equipment necessary in sports and other activities can help prevent injuries such as rashes or head injuries. If you’ve already suffered an injury to a joint or muscle, tendon, or ligament, your Weldon Spring Heights, MO physician or injury prevention professional may advise braces or Kinesio Taping® to stabilize the injured area. Other methods like making sure all the equipment is snug offers further protection.
• Strengthen muscles — Strengthening your muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps them withstand the rigors your body is put through in sports and other activities. In your customized injury prevention program with our licensed Weldon Spring Heights, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to build up your body to be able to avoid injury in the activities you love.
• Improve flexibility — Stretching 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 adjust to more pronounced positions.
  2. It increases blood flow, which allows for nutrient-rich blood to flow to your muscles, removing waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to recover.
  3. It increases your posture, which, as we’ve discussed, is an important part of injury prevention.

  According to a peer-reviewed sports medicine paper, sports like basketball that require sudden twists and movements require muscles and tendons compliant 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 correct 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 perform better but help prevent injuries by not forcing your body into unnatural positions and movements. Football players are taught to tackle a certain way to avoid brain damage, and rotational athletes like golfers and baseball players learn how to best rotate their body. We utilize DorsaVi video motion analysis to break down your movement and analyze how to improve it.
• Don’t ignore what your body is telling you — If a part of your body is bothering you, your body is trying to send you a message. If you feel sudden pain, stop immediately and seek proportional medical care. If your body isn’t holing up well in an intense training session, save it for another day.
• Don’t play through an injury — Even though playing through pain is often viewed as a valiant act among competitors, forcing your body to perform with an injury to a muscle, joint, tendon, or ligament could exacerbate a current injury and put you out of commission for much longer than if you had sat out at the time of the injury. Depending on the nature of your injury, recommended actions may be using R.I.C.E. method, visiting an emergency room, and rehab with a physical therapist to ensure your recovery and return to action go as well as possible.
• Play by the rules — Many sports have special rules at different levels in the interest of safety. Penalties for targeting in football, rules against slide-tackling in soccer, and even the existence of bike lanes are examples of rules that were adopted to keep participants safe. 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 have a medical evaluation before a new season or starting up a new activity or training regimen. While there, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a knowledgeable physical therapist in Weldon Spring Heights, MO is a good idea for you. All of our techniques have been demonstrated to help athletes remain healthy, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to how old you are, your injury history, and how physically active you wish to be.

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Weldon Spring Heights, MO

Falls in the elderly accounted for more than 3 million urgent care admissions and over 34,000 deaths. Studies show that being physical active is a great method for preventing falls. Other conditions like arthritis that accumulate over time can be effectively managed with physical therapy exercises that keep your soft tissue and joints strong. While the physical demands for older adults may not be as high as an athlete, healthy strength, stability, flexibility, and optimal posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Weldon Spring Heights, 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

Weldon Spring Heights, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Suffering in injury in in an activity you prepare and train for and love can lead to a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same happiness. The licensed Weldon Spring Heights, MO physical therapists at Axes are here to guide you through your own personalized injury prevention program that will keep your body prepared for the rigors of physical activity, 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 that you do not want to lose. Request an appointment online or reach out to the location nearest you to start your program with one of our injury prevention specialists in Weldon Spring Heights, MO.