ACL Tear Greater Lemay, MO. ACL tears have an enormous effect on your active and daily routine. One second you’re sprinting down the field, competing in your favorite sport or playing with your children, and the next second you’re wondering if you’ll get to play or even go back to your job again. At Axes Physical Therapy in Lemay, MO, we have devoted our practice to helping our patients regain their strength and mobility, and getting them back to the activities they love. Our ACL tear rehabilitation specialists work in tandem with you as a team and create tailored, evidence-based treatment plans. If you’ve sustained an ACL tear, or any other injury, in Lemay, MO, contact us online or find the most convenient Axes location for you. We dedicate ourselves to getting every patient a positive outcome and getting you back to what’s most important to you, whether that means running the bases in your local Lemay, MO league, or carrying your children on your shoulders without any pain.

What is the ACL? | Lemay, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of tough, pliable connective tissue that affix 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, runs down the center of your knee and forms an “X” with the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). The ACL and PCL work in concert to stabilize the forward and backward movement of your knee, and the ACL stops the tibia from gliding too far forward on the femur and provides rotational stability.

Most ACL tears are partial, but they can be completely torn as well. Depending on the grade of your ACL tear, your capacity to bear weight and range of motion will be lowered. However significant your injury, trust in the Lemay, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you fully recover.

Why an ACL Tear Happens | Lemay, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries nationwide annually, and it is one of the most frequent knee injuries and sports injuries. They are common in contact sports that entail frequent and fast cutting and switching 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 changing direction quickly, and the rest are the result of direct blunt force trauma. External and internal factors could both contribute to an ACL tear:

External Factors

These are when your motion is interrupted immediately before the injury. Some examples are:

• Landing on uneven footing or landing with improper form
• Something or someone bumping into you
• A sudden reduction in speed or changing direction
• Swiveling with a firmly planted foot
• Receiving a direct hit to the knee

Internal Factors

These are related to the structure and anatomy of the body. Examples include:

• The anatomical differences between men and women
• How flexible the hamstring and other surrounding muscles are
• Differences in genetics

ACL tears don’t just happen in sports, falls and work-related injuries can harm they ACL as well. 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 because of anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | Lemay, MO Physical Therapy

Following an ACL tear, you’ll likely feel pain in the middle of the knee. An ACL tear does not always cause significant pain except if other constructive damage was done to the knee. Some signs that you may have torn your ACL are:

• Feeling or hearing a pop in your knee
• Having to cease activity
• Rapid swelling
• Loss of range of motion
• Instability when putting weight on your knee

If you think you’ve sustained an ACL tear, it’s necessary to contact a physician or a licensed physical therapist in Lemay, MO to diagnose your injury and get you the treatment you need. We offer complimentary, no strings attached injury screenings and work with many excellent doctors in Lemay, MO that we can refer you to. Your Axes physical or occupational therapist, your doctor and medical providers, and you will form a close team and work together to ensure your recovery is safe and efficient.

ACL Tear Treatments | Lemay, MO Physical Therapy

It is essential to get prompt, effective, personalized treatment for your ACL tear. If you wait, or your treatment is ineffective, it can result in health conditions like obesity or osteoarthritis, which can greatly affect your quality of life.

Immediately after your ACL tear, you should use over-the-counter pain medication and the R.I.C.E. method to manage pain and swelling. In an examination, a doctor will evaluate your range of motion, and likely order an MRI to confirm the ACL tear and gauge the extent of the injury.

Because ligaments do not receive blood flow, 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. Surgery is the only means available to completely heal an ACL tear. So, surgery is often the best option for younger people, athletes who need their knee reconstructed in order to play, patients whose ACL tears were accompanied by other serious damage to other parts of their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes their knee to buckle in basic, everyday tasks. ACL surgery is generally 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 in place, you still have a long way to go before you’ll feel fully back to normal. After surgery, you may be given crutches so you can get around for the next few weeks, as your quadriceps muscles will have weakened. Axes Physical Therapy offers both pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation for ACL tears in Lemay, MO to get you a positive outcome for both your physical rehabilitation and your operation. Our ACL tear physical therapy experts will guide you through your recovery process with a personalized treatment plan that has been demonstrated to work. As part of your treatment plan, we will:

• Reduce pain and swelling
• Provide patient education so you understand your injury and why our methods work
• Gradually and effectively get you back to bearing weight
• Fit you for a brace and teach you how to safely use it
• Do movement exercises and balance exercises to return range of motion
• Perform strength exercises to return you to full strength
• Potentially implement electrical stimulation as a supplement to the exercises

When you work with the knowledgeable Lemay, MO area physical therapists of Axes and take an active role in your recovery, you have the greatest chance of a complete and timely recovery. Before you know it, we will return you to dominating the local pickleball league, or just enjoying being able to to sit down and stand up without feeling any instability in your knee.

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

Unfortunately, second ACL tears are common and they can cause life-long repercussions. As part of our ACL tear physical therapy services in Lemay, MO, our Certified Athletic Trainers will educate you on how to avoid another ACL tear down the road. We recommend some of the following steps to prevent further injury:

• Having a strong core
• Strengthen your hip and leg muscles
• Practice proper form, for instance keeping knees shoulder width apart while landing
• 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 activities you love, but doing everything possible to make sure that you stay off the sidelines.

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

• Back Pain Treatment
• 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

ACL Tear in Lemay, MO | Axes Physical Therapy

It is normal to be apprehensive 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 with you to implement a proven, customized physical therapy plan to get you back 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.