ACL Tear Greater Bloomsdale, MO. ACL tears have an enormous effect on your active routine and daily life. One moment you’re sprinting down the court, competing in your favorite sport or playing with your kids, and the next instant you’re wondering if you’ll get to play or even go back to your job again. At Axes Physical Therapy in Bloomsdale, MO, we have devoted our practice to restoring our patients’ mobility and returning them to the activities they love. Our ACL tear rehabilitation specialists work with you as a team and design customize, evidence-based treatment plans. If you’ve sustained an ACL tear, or any other injury, in Bloomsdale, MO, contact us online or find the most convenient Axes location for you. We focus on getting every patient positive results and getting you back to the things that matter most to you, whether that means running the bases in your local Bloomsdale, MO league, or carrying your children on your shoulders without any pain.

What is the ACL? | Bloomsdale, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of tough, flexible connective tissue that affix two bones. The ligaments in the knee work to keep your knee stable by connecting 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 tandem to stabilize the front and back motion of your knee, and the ACL shields 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. Regardless of how serious your injury, trust in the Bloomsdale, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you accomplish a complete recovery.

Why an ACL Tear Happens | Bloomsdale, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries nationwide each year, and it is one of the most common knee injuries and sports injuries. They are common in contact sports that require frequent and rapid cutting and switching directions, such as football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. According to data from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the vast majority of ACL tears occur in non-contact injuries, such as cutting rapidly, and the rest are caused by direct blows to the knee. External and internal factors could both contribute to an ACL tear:

External Factors

These are when your motion is obstructed just before the injury. Some examples are:

• Landing on uneven footing or landing awkwardly
• Colliding with something or someone
• Suddenly decelerating or changing direction
• Spinning with a firmly planted foot
• Sustaining a direct hit to the knee

Internal Factors

These concern the structure and anatomy of the body. Some examples are:

• The anatomical differences between men and women
• Flexibility of the hamstring
• Genetic variations

While many ACL tears happen in sports, they are also common in falls and work-related injuries. 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 as a result of anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | Bloomsdale, MO Physical Therapy

Following an ACL tear, you’ll likely feel pain at the center of the knee. You might not necessarily feel sever pain after an ACL tear except if other structural damage was done to the knee. Some signals that you may have suffered an ACL tear are:

• A “popping” sensation or sound in your knee
• Having to cease activity
• Rapid swelling
• Loss of range of motion
• Not being able to bear weight your knee

If you think you’ve sustained an ACL tear, it’s vital to contact a physician or a licensed physical therapist in Bloomsdale, MO to diagnose 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 wide network of excellent physicians in Bloomsdale, MO that we can connect you with. 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 | Bloomsdale, MO Physical Therapy

It is essential to get effective and personalized treatment soon after your ACL tear. If you don’t, it can lead to health conditions like obesity or osteoarthritis, which can greatly affect your quality of life.

In the minutes after your ACL tear, it’s best to use over-the-counter pain medication and the R.I.C.E. method to manage pain and inflammation. A doctor will then examine you, evaluate your range of motion, and likely order an MRI or other tests to verify the ACL tear and evaluate the completeness and grade of your tear.

Because blood does not flow to ligaments, a complete ACL tear cannot heal on its own. This means that you will need the help of licensed professional physical therapists in order 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 a fully healthy ACL in order to perform, patients with other significant injury to their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes their knee to buckle in basic, everyday tasks. In an ACL surgery, a surgeon will remove the injured ACL, take a graft from another one of your or a donors tendons, and use small incisions to attach it to the bones.

Once the new ligament is in place, your journey back to normalcy and the activities you love is still a long way from over. After surgery, you may need crutches to move around, as your quadriceps muscles will have weakened. Axes Physical Therapy offers both pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation for ACL tears in Bloomsdale, MO to get you the best results for both your physical rehabilitation and your operation. Our ACL tear physical therapy professionals will lead you through your recovery process with a personalized treatment plan that has been demonstrated to work. Our treatment methods will help to:

• Mitigate pain and swelling
• Educate you on your injury and the rehab process
• Gradually and effectively get you back to bearing weight
• Provide you with a brace and teach you how to safely use it
• Perform movement exercises and balance exercises to increase range of motion
• Perform strength exercises to return you to full strength
• Potentially employ 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 expert Bloomsdale, MO area physical therapists of Axes. Before you know it, we will return you to tearing up the local pickleball league, or just enjoying the ability to climb stairs without your knee buckling.

How to Prevent an ACL Tear | Bloomsdale, MO Physical Therapy

Unfortunately, second ACL tears are common and they can result in permanent consequences. As part of our ACL tear physical therapy services in Bloomsdale, MO, our Certified Athletic Trainers will help you understand the best practices that help to avoid another ACL tear down the road. We recommend some of the following steps to prevent further injury:

• Strengthen your core
• Having strong hip and leg muscles
• Practice correct form, for instance landing evenly on both feet
• Maintain flexibility
• Increase your balance
• Always warm up before sports or other physical activities
• Always wear appropriate footwear

Our physical therapists devote themselves not only to retuning you to the things you love to do, but doing everything possible to ensure that you stay off the sidelines.

Some of the other services we offer in Bloomsdale, MO are:

• Neck Pain Treatment
• 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

ACL Tear in Bloomsdale, MO | Axes Physical Therapy

It is normal to be anxious about your prognosis and road to recovery after suffering a severe injury. 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 in concert with you to create a proven, personalized physical therapy plan to return you to the basketball court, gymnasts’ mat, or just back to your normal, pain-free daily activities. Contact us online or call the location are closest to you.