Wilbur Park, MO

Wilbur Park, MO

Don't let the fear of reinjury keep you from the activities you love.

Injury Prevention in Wilbur Park, MO. Whether you play a sport and are hoping for a shot at the next level, or you just retired and want to spend more time camping, don’t let the fear of reinjury keep you from the happy, healthy lifestyle you deserve. While our professional Wilbur Park, MO physical therapists spend much of their time helping athletes and others 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 methods that are proven to reduce the risk of injury. Make an appointment at Axes Physical Therapy today or reach out to the location nearest you.

Being physically active is vitally important to many Wilbur Park, MO residents. Many of us participate in activities such as playing sports, swimming, or other physical activities. Additionally, pursuing an active lifestyle helps prevent significant health problems like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, anxiety, and many types of cancers. Not only can physical therapy with one of Axes’ licensed Wilbur Park, MO physical therapists help you return to action as fierce as ever, but our injury prevention specialists can help preserve your active lifestyle by improving your overall strength, flexibility, and posture. 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 activities they want to return to.

If you’ve recently sustained an injury, or have a lingering injury that is not getting better with time, contact the Axes Physical Therapy location most convenient for you in Wilbur Park, MO for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening. To take preventative measures and protect your active lifestyle, keep reading or call to speak to a physical therapist today.

Types of Injuries We Prevent Prevent in Wilbur Park, MO

Most injuries happen for one of two reasons:

  1. Overuse 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 use throwing or striking motions and typically are accompanied by joint pain.
  2. Acute injuries are sudden and spontaneous. Examples include falling or receiving a blow. These can result in bruises, sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.

Some common injuries, like rotator cuff tears, can result from either overuse or acute trauma. Other injuries, like ACL tears, almost always occur spontaneously, with a sudden impact to the knee.

Injury Prevention Wilbur Park, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Wilbur Park

What Causes Injuries? | Injury Prevention in Wilbur Park, MO

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

Muscle Imbalance

Muscle balance is essential to supporting joints and staving off injury. Imbalance can lead to dependency on one muscle group, causing it to perform actions it cannot do safely. It can also lead to poor posture, and the weaker muscles will become fatigued sooner, making them more susceptible to injuries. Muscle imbalance applies to inadequate muscle balance in relation to other muscle groups, such as having a strong hamstring and weak quadriceps, or within muscle groups, such as the four muscles in the rotator cuff having different levels of strength. Symptoms include:

Tailored injury prevention with our knowledgeable physical therapists in Wilbur Park, MO will bring balance to your muscles.

Movement Dysfunction

Movement dysfunction can impact your stability and lead to your body bending in unnatural ways, increasing your risk of injury. It can be caused by a variety of musculoskeletal issues. It can cause injury through:

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

At our initial injury prevention appointment in Wilbur Park, MO, we’ll discuss your medical history and perform a base evaluation to identify the root causes of your movement dysfunction. Then, together with your physician or any other medical professionals treating you, we’ll come up with a personalized treatment plan based on empirically-backed research and studies to get your movement health to reach its potential.

Posture Dysfunction

Bad posture doesn’t just affect people with desk jobs. Athletes and others with active lifestyles can suffer from postural dysfunction when resting, using the computer, or in specific positions necessary for a given activity. Optimal posture means correct alignments of the neck, torso, pelvis, and extremities in a way that does not remove the spine from its natural curves. Poor posture can bring the vertebrae 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. It can also lead to:

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

Good posture is a necessary part of injury prevention because it ensures muscle balance, range of motion, and that your spine is in its natural position.



Injury Prevention Methods in Wilbur Park, MO

All sports and physical activities carry an inherent risk of injury. No one safety tip is guaranteed to be effective in injury prevention. However, there are precautions to make sure your body is strong and flexible enough for your intended activity:

  • Take a rest — Your body needs time to rest and recover after any moderate to intense activity. If you’re heavily active, 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.
  • Wear protective equipment — Helmets, chest guards, safety pads and guards, and other required equipment in many sports helps you avoid injuries such as contusions or head injuries. If you’re returning to activity after an injury, your Wilbur Park, MO doctor or physical therapist may advise 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.
  • Improve muscle strength — Strengthening soft tissue helps it withstand the rigors of heavy activity. In your customized injury prevention program with our experienced Wilbur Park, MO physical therapists, we’ll work to achieve ideal muscle balance and strengthen the smaller muscles needed to be able to avoid injury in the activities you love.
  • Increase flexibility — Increasing your flexibility achieves three critical things for injury prevention:
    1. It increases your range of motion, which allows for your soft tissue to adapt to more pronounced positions.
    2. It enhances circulation, which allows for nutrient-rich blood to flow to your muscles, removing waste byproduct and encouraging the muscles to heal.
    3. It increases your posture, which we already know is an is one of the most important aspects of injury prevention.

    According to research, sports like football that include sudden twists and movements require soft tissue with sufficient flexibility to store and expel 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 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 improve performance but help reduce the risk of injury. Football players learn to tackle with the shoulder in order to reduce the risk of brain damage, and swimmers learn the proper strokes to make sure their muscles are moving unnaturally. We use 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 a part of your body is sore, that means that body part is telling your brain that something isn’t right. If you feel a sudden pop or grinding sensation, immediately stop all physical activity and get the appropriate medical treatment. 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 gutting it out through pain is often viewed as a heroic act among competitors, 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, you may use methods like the R.I.C.E. method, visiting your doctor, and a series of physical therapy sessions to make sure your body heals properly 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 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 violations of those rules are punished.
  • Speak a licensed physical therapist — It’s a good idea to get a physical before starting another season or committing yourself to any strenuous activity or training regimen. During your appointment, inquire with your doctor if injury prevention with a licensed physical therapist in Wilbur Park, MO is a good idea for you. Every treatment plan we employ has been proven to reduce the risk of injury, and you plan will be completely unique to you and catered to your age, your injury history, and which activities you want to participate in.

Injury Prevention Wilbur Park, MO | Sports Therapy | Physical Therapy Near Wilbur Park

Injury Prevention for Senior Citizens in Wilbur Park, MO

Falls in senior citizens were responsible for over 3 million emergency room visits and over 34,000 deaths. Research demonstrates that physical activity can go a long way in reducing the risk of falls. Other conditions like arthritis that develop over the course of several years can be slowed down by physical therapy exercises that keep your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints healthy. While seniors typically do not exert themselves as much as an athlete does, the same principles of strength, balance, flexibility, and correct posture can greatly aid in injury prevention.

Other services we offer in Wilbur Park, MO include:

Wilbur Park, MO Injury Prevention | Axes Physical Therapy

Being injured in something you love doing can lead to a mental block that keeps us from experiencing the same exhilaration. The knowledgeable Wilbur Park, 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 confident that you do not have to fear going back to what you love doing most. We will aid you in feeling the physical and mental health benefits that you once valued so much. Request an appointment online or contact the location nearest you to get started with one of our injury prevention experts in Wilbur Park, MO.

Services Offered

Services Offered
  • Physical Therapy
    • Pre/Post Surgical Rehabilitation
    • Acute Injury Management
    • Chronic Injury Management
  • Work Conditioning/Hardening
  • Functional Capacity Evaluations
  • Certified Hand Therapy
  • Sports Physical Therapy
  • Pediatric Orthopedic Physical Therapy
  • Geriatric Physical Therapy
  • Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
  • Spine Specialty – Certified Manual Therapy
  • Trigger Point Dry Needling
  • Free Injury Screenings
  • Kinesio Taping®
  • Blood Flow Restriction Therapy
  • Certified Wellness Coaching

Our Team

Stephen Brunjes
OTR/L, CEAS
Brian Wahlig
Front Office Supervisor
Sarah Schroeder
MOTR/L, CHT, Astym Cert
Mandy Carter
MSPT, CMPT, ATC, CWC
Ray Bauer
Clinic Director, MSPT, CMPT

Locations

Begin Your Recovery Today

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