ACL Tear Greater All Saints Village, MO. ACL tears have an enormous effect on your active routine and daily life. You go from having a blast in a sport or playing with your kids, to suddenly wondering whether you’ll get to play or even go back to your job again. At Axes Physical Therapy in All Saints Village, MO, we have committed our practice to restoring our patients’ mobility and returning them to the activities they love. Our ACL tear rehabilitation specialists work in concert with you as a team and develop customize treatments plans that have been empirically proven to be effective. If you’ve suffered an ACL tear, or any other injury, in All Saints Village, MO, contact us online or find the most convenient Axes location for you. Our mission is getting every patient positive results and getting you back to the things that matter most to you, whether that means dominating your local All Saints Village, MO pickleball league, or picking up your grandchildren without any pain.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament | All Saints Village, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of durable, flexible connective tissue that attach two bones. The ligaments in the knee work to maintain stability in your knee by affixing your tibia (shinbone) to your femur (thigh bone). The ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is in the center of your knee and crosses the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) so they make an “x”. The ACL and PCL work in concert to stabilize the front and back movement of your knee, and the ACL safeguards the tibia from sliding too far forward on the femur and provides rotational stability.

ACL tears can be either partial or complete. Depending on the grade of your ACL tear, your ability to put weight on your knee and range of motion will be reduced. However severe your injury, trust in the All Saints Village, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you reach a complete recovery.

Causes of an ACL Tear | All Saints Village, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries in the United States annually, and it is one of the most common knee injuries and sports injuries. They are common in contact sports that require frequent and fast cutting and changing directions, such as football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. According to reporting from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, almost three-quarters of ACL tears happen in non-contact injuries, such as cutting quickly, and the rest are due to direct blunt force trauma. External and internal factors could both contribute to an ACL tear:

External Factors

These are when your movement is obstructed immediately before the injury. Some examples are:

• Landing on uneven ground or landing with improper form
• Colliding with something or someone
• A sudden reduction in speed or switching direction
• Pivoting with a firmly planted foot
• Receiving a direct hit to the knee

Internal Factors

These have to do with the structure and anatomy of the knee and legs. Some examples are:

• The anatomical differences between men and women
• Flexibility of the hamstring
• Differences in genetics

ACL tears don’t just transpire in sports, falls and work-related injuries can damage they ACL too. The elderly are also at high risk, as our bodies degenerate as we age. Women are 4-6 times more likely to suffer an ACL tear, likely due to anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | All Saints Village, MO Physical Therapy

When you suffer an ACL tear, you’ll likely feel pain at the center of the knee. An ACL tear does not always cause considerable pain unless other parts of the knee were also injured. Some indicators that you might have torn your ACL are:

• Feeling or hearing a pop in your knee
• Having to cease activity
• Rapid swelling
• Reduction of range of motion
• Not being able to bear weight your knee

If you think you’ve sustained an ACL tear, it’s critical to see a doctor or a licensed physical therapist in All Saints Village, MO to verify your injury and come up with the treatment plan you need to recover. We offer no-cost, no strings attached injury screenings and have a great network of excellent doctors in All Saints Village, MO that we can refer you to. Your Axes physical or occupational therapist is an indispensable part of your recovery team, working closely with you and your doctors and medical providers to collaborate on your safe and efficient recovery.

How to Treat an ACL Tear | All Saints Village, MO Physical Therapy

It is imperative to get prompt, effective, personalized treatment for your ACL tear. If you don’t, it can result in complications like obesity or osteoarthritis, which can greatly affect how you live your life.

Immediately after your ACL tear, it’s best to use over-the-counter pain medication and the R.I.C.E. method to reduce pain and inflammation. In an examination, a doctor will assess your range of motion, and likely order an MRI or other tests to confirm the ACL tear and gauge the severity of the injury.

Because blood does not flow to ligaments, a complete ACL tear cannot regenerate by itself. That is why the aid of a licensed professional physical therapist is necessary to return to the activities you love. The only way to fully repair an ACL tear is through surgery. So, surgery is often the best option for younger people, athletes who need their knee reconstructed in order to perform, patients whose ACL tears were accompanied by other serious injury to other parts of their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes their knee to buckle in basic, everyday tasks. ACL surgery is typically done by taking a graft from another tendon — either one of yours or a deceased donor’s — and then using small incisions to attach the graft to the femur and tibia.

Once the new ligament is attached, your journey back to normalcy and the activities you love is still a long way from over. After surgery, you’ll likely need crutches to move around, as your quadriceps muscles will weaken from disuse. Axes Physical Therapy offers both pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation for ACL tears in All Saints Village, MO to optimize your recovery and the success of your surgery. Our ACL tear physical therapy professionals will lead you through your recovery process with a personalized treatment plan that has been proven to work. Our treatment methods will help to:

• Alleviate pain and swelling
• Educate you on your injury and the rehab process
• Gradually and effectively allow you to put weight on your knee again
• Fit you for a brace and teach you how to safely use it
• Perform movement exercises and balance exercises to increase range of motion
• Do strength exercises to increase strength
• Possibly implement electrical stimulation as a supplement to the exercises

You have the best chance for a full recovery by actively participating in it and trusting the professional All Saints Village, MO area physical therapists of Axes. Before you know it, we will return you to dominating the local pick-up league, or just enjoying being able to to sit down and stand up without any pain.

How to Prevent an ACL Tear | All Saints Village, MO Physical Therapy

Unfortunately, many people sustain a second ACL tear and they can cause permanent repercussions. Included in your treatment program in All Saints Village, MO, our Certified Athletic Trainers will help you understand the best practices that help to avoid another ACL tear in the future. We recommend some of the following steps to prevent further injury:

• Strengthen your core
• Having strong hip and leg muscles
• Practice proper form, for instance always landing with your feet directly over your knee
• Maintain flexibility
• Perform balance exercises
• Perform warm-up exercises before sports or other physical activities
• Always wear appropriate footwear

Our physical therapists devote themselves not only to retuning you to the activities you love, but doing what we can to make certain that you stay off the sidelines.

Some of the other services we offer in All Saints Village, MO are:

• 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

ACL Tear in All Saints Village, MO | Axes Physical Therapy

It is normal to be nervous about your prognosis and road to recovery after being seriously injured. If you’ve sustained an ACL tear, you probably want to get back to your normal, active lifestyle as quickly as possible. Trust in the experienced professionals of Axes Physical Therapy to work with you to design a proven, customized physical therapy plan to return you to the football field, bowling alley, or just back to your normal, pain-free daily activities. Contact us online or call the location are closest to you.