Spine Specialist Near Me in Oakville, MO

Spine specialist near me in Oakville, MO. Spinal conditions can make basic tasks like bending over painful, and keep us from our best possible movement health. For people who play sports, back injuries can keep you from being at the top of their game. For breadwinners, it can prevent you from providing for your Oakville, MO loved ones. For others, it can prevent us from going on bike ride or other physical activities. Physical therapists with a spine specialty can help you get back to what you love doing most. By creating a custom treatment plan, based on techniques proven to work, Axes Physical Therapy can help you achieve the movement health and pain relief your body needs to function, and that you need to live your best life. If you’re ready to at long last move on from a crippling back condition, schedule an appointment with an Axes Oakville, MO spine specialist, or get in touch with the Axes location nearest you.

Missouri Revised Statute §334.506 requires a prescription for physical therapy. If you’re recovering from a back or neck injury, or are living with chronic pain, ask your doctor if physical therapy with a spine specialist in Oakville, MO is what you need. You can also visit one of our offices for one of our no-obligation injury screenings.

The Anatomy of the Spine

The spine is our central support structure, and allows our brain and body to coordinate with each other. It extends from the base of your skull to your pelvis. The spine consists of:

Vertebrae

The spine consists of 33 vertebrae, which are small bones that form the backbone. The spinal cord and nerves run through holes in the middle of each vertebra. There are five vertebral regions. There are:

• 7 vertebrae in the cervical region (your neck)
• 12 vertebrae in the thoracic region (your middle back)
• 5 vertebrae in the lumbar region (your lower back)
• 5 vertebrae in the sacrum region (the triangle shaped bone that connects to the hips)
• 4 vertebrae in the coccyx region (your tailbone)

The 24 vertebrae in the first 3 regions are the only ones that can move; the others are immobile.

Facet Joints

Facet joints connect the vertebrae. They allow your back and neck to perform a variety of movements. They are lined with cartilage and lubricated with synovial fluid, allowing the bones to move without grinding against each other.

Intervertebral Discs

Discs are the flat, round cushions between the vertebrae that act as shock absorbers. There is one disc between each vertebra. Discs have a softer middle known as the nucleus pulposus, which allows for mobility and absorption, and a tough, circular exterior known as the annulus fibrosus that prevent the nucleus pulposus from leaking out.

Spinal Cord

The spinal cord consists of nerves running up the bones in your spine, extending from the brain to your lumbar region, where the nerves go into the lower part of your body. The spinal cord is protected by the vertebral column. The nerves branch out to other parts of the body through openings in the vertebrae called the neural foramen. The spinal cord carries messages between our brain and other parts of our body.

Soft Tissue

The spine also has various types of soft tissue. Ligaments connect bones together and holds them in the correct structure. Tendons attach muscles to the vertebrae, and the muscles are what powers the spine’s movement.

Living the lifestyle we want depends on all of these parts working together and functioning properly. Numerous different factors can make the spine damaged or unhealthy, which can keep you from the things you love doing. When that happens, a spine specialist in Oakville, MO like Axes’ physical therapists can provide safe and effective relief.

What Conditions Can a Spine Specialist in Oakville, MO Treat Me For?

The American College of Physicians developed guidelines that include certain physical therapy treatments for people living with lower back pain and neck pain. Whether you’re dealing with pain on a daily basis or recently sustained a work injury, Axes’ Oakville, MO spine specialists can help you live your best life. Some of the common conditions we help with in Oakville, MO are:

• Disc Injuries — Herniated discs and bulging discs can be due to either an injury or general degradation from aging. They can impinge on a nerve which can be painful and limit function. Degenerative disc disease occurs as the cushioning in your spine wears away, and can have symptoms similar to herniated discs.
• Sciatica — Sciatica refers to a variety of conditions which irritate the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in the body and begins near your tailbone. Symptoms include crippling pain, weakness, and numbness from your buttocks all the way down to your foot.
• Spinal Stenosis — Stenosis occurs when the space inside your backbone is too small. It can cause pain, issues with walking or other movements, and numbness or tingling in your hands or feet.
• Spinal Arthritis — Arthritis describes several different types of joint disease. It onsets as the cushioning between the joints degrades over time or from repeated trauma. It can also be caused by autoimmune disorders. There are over 100 types of arthritis, most of which can affect the spine.
• Axial Back Pain — Also known as nonspecific back pain, this refers to pain isn’t brought on by a clear, diagnosable cause. Axial back pain can be caused by obesity or poor posture.

Physical therapy is also an effective treatment option for soft tissue injuries such as whiplash.

Whatever is causing your back pain or injury, our Oakville, MO spine specialists will work in tandem with you and your doctor to design an evidence-backed treatment plan to get you back to the things you love doing most and a more comfortable life. While some conditions, like stenosis, won’t ever fully go away, physical therapy can be part of a holistic wellness routine that eases symptoms and achieves optimal mobility.

If what’s ailing you requires surgery, we offer pre- and post-surgical rehab in Oakville, MO to help your surgery go as well as possible.

Benefits of Working With a Physical Therapy Spine Specialist in Oakville, MO

More and more people are turning to physical therapy as a non-invasive treatment plan for a variety of musculoskeletal conditions. According to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, physical therapy is just as effective as surgery for certain types of back pain, and doesn’t involve the same recovery time or risk of adverse side-effects. Early intervention by a licensed Oakville, MO physical therapist is proven to reduce the risk of long-term opioid use.

A spine specialist like those at Axes Physical Therapy will be able to determine what is causing your pain or other issues, and build a treatment plan based on your medical history, how old you are, and your desired activity level. Through numerous different exercises and manual manipulations, physical therapy can limit symptoms, improve the function of your spine by improving strength and flexibility, enhance flexibility.

Physical Therapy for Spine Conditions

Depending on what is causing your back pain or other symptoms, your Oakville, MO spine specialist at Axes may implement some of the following practices to help get you back to what you love doing most:

• Hands-On Care — Our Oakville, MO manual therapists are experts at using light pressures and stretches to alleviate symptoms and improve function caused by muscle or joint dysfunction. Hand-on services we may incorporate into your treatment plan include:
  • Trigger point dry needling
  • Soft tissue mobilization
  • Joint mobilization and manipulation
  • Trigger point massage
• Guided Exercise — Safe exercises are essential for helping you build up strength, flexibility, and balance. Beyond reducing pain now, certain exercises will allow you to maintain a healthy spine while going to work or doing the activities you love most. Effective exercises for spine conditions include:
  • Core stabilization
  • Postural retraining
  • Flexibility
  • Cardio conditioning
  • Strength training
  • Home exercise
• Injury Prevention — It’s beyond frustrating to feel like you’re moving on from an injury, only to suffer another injury in the future. We help you understand your injury and how it affects your body’s function, so you’ll know how to stay healthy in the future. Our injury prevention program includes:
  • Patient education
  • Lifting education
  • Activity modification
  • Conditioning

Your treatment plan in Oakville, MO will be holistic and focused on getting you to optimal movement health and keeping you there. Whatever your treatment plan includes, it will be based on peer-reviewed studies that those techniques have been proven to work.

Other services we offer in Oakville, MO include:

• Soft Tissue Mobilization
• Post Surgical Rehabilitation
• 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

Count on Axes For Your Spine Specialist Near Me in Oakville, MO

Don’t allow a back injury keep you from what you love doing most. At Axes, our Oakville, MO spine specialists strive for positive patient outcomes. You didn’t decide to live with back pain, but you can choose to do something about it. For a professional and experienced Oakville, MO spine specialist to treat you, request an appointment with Axes Physical Therapy today or reach out to the location closest to you