INJURY PREVENTION
We help you strengthen your muscles, improve flexibility and mobility and address any functional limitations so that you can understand your body better and how it works to stay healthy.
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What is Injury Prevention?
Injury prevention should be a goal for any physiotherapist. Not only should they be helping you treat your injury, they should be planning about how to make sure you don’t reinjure yourself in the future so you can enjoy the things you love without any worry about getting hurt again.
Other people may be looking at ways to get stronger and more agile in order to prevent an injury from happening in the first place. Although we cannot predict the future, understanding your body and how it works is a great way to stay healthy throughout your life. This is especially true as we age into the later years of life.
If you’re interested in learning more about how physical therapy or kinesiology can help you prevent severe injury in the future, please give us a call or book a no charge 15 min video consultation with one of our healthcare professionals. We’d be happy to help answer any questions you may have.
What is injury prevention and control?
Injury prevention is another way of thinking about getting your body to perform at its best. In order to do this, a registered physical therapist or registered kinesiologist will perform a physical examination of how you move, test your strength in different positions and check your flexibility and mobility. They will also have a look at your overall function. This can include your ability to lift things, carry things, run, jump and a variety of other physical activities.
If they notice anything that needs to be addressed, they will spend the time to educate you on the reasons why this area needs to be addressed and make a plan on how to overcome the problem.
What is an injury prevention program?
An injury prevention program is a plan that outlines the requirements to strengthen your muscles, improve your flexibility and mobility and address any functional limitations. This would also include teaching you how to move safely and efficiently, such as proper lifting techniques and understanding what good posture looks like. It will also include education regarding what you can do at work and at play to stay physically fit and healthy. Such as when and how to take microbreaks. This is especially relevant if you work at a desk.
Take the first step towards safeguarding your body and preventing injuries by booking an initial assessment with our expert physiotherapists.
How do you develop an injury prevention program?
Your initial assessment will include a detailed assessment. This involves asking a series of questions to understand your goals, past medical history including previous injuries, employment history and anything else that is relevant to create your injury prevention program.
The biggest thing to determine is to gain an understanding of why you want to create an injury prevention program. This is key to keep you motivated. Reaching your desired end goal is a long term project and results will not come overnight. Getting to the core of why you have this goal will allow you to push through setbacks and keep you on track when the going gets tough.
How can trauma injuries be prevented?
Preventing trauma is very difficult. We cannot predict what events will happen in your life. Nor do we expect that people live sheltered lives. If you’re constantly worried about getting injured, then you’ll miss out on a lot of great things life has to offer.
One of the goals of creating an injury prevention program is that if you do end up suffering a traumatic injury, by being physically fit and healthy, your chances of recovery remains high. In addition, your rehabilitation is much easier and faster.
Just think about a person who is sedentary and overweight compared to someone who is fit, active, has a good understanding of how their body works and in generally good physical shape. If these two individuals were to injure their back in a car accident, which one do you think would have an easier time recovering and going through the rehabilitation process? Which one would get better faster?
Can all injuries be prevented?
Absolutely not! If any healthcare professional tells you this, they should lose their license. No one can prevent someone getting into a car accident that’s not their fault or someone slipping on a wet floor.
However, keeping your body in optimal condition is something that people can do to stay agile, reactive, strong and flexible to decrease the likelihood of a serious injury.
Think about an ankle for example. By strengthening your muscles, you need to load your bones and joints. By working on flexibility and mobility, your body will have its full range of motion. Compare two individuals: the first has never exercised in their life. The other has undergone a 6 month injury prevention program improving their strength, flexibility and agility. If both these individuals were walking on an uneven sidewalk and their ankle were to roll over (otherwise known as an inversion sprain), who do you think has the potential to suffer a traumatic injury and who might not suffer an injury at all?
Remember, this can be achieved at any age, background or gender. It’s never too late to start!