ACL Tear Greater Maplewood, MO. ACL tears can suddenly obstruct your active and daily routine. One moment you’re sprinting down the court, playing your favorite sport or having fun with your children, and the next moment you’re wondering if you’ll get to play or even go back to your job again. At Axes Physical Therapy in Maplewood, MO, we have committed 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 develop tailored treatments plans that have been empirically proven to be effective. If you’ve suffered an ACL tear, or any other injury, in Maplewood, MO, contact us online or check out the most convenient Axes location for you. Our mission is getting every patient great results and getting you back to what’s most important to you, whether that means breaking defender’s ankles on a Maplewood, MO basketball court, or picking up your grandchildren without any pain.

What is the ACL? | Maplewood, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of tough, flexible fibrous tissue that attach two bones. The ligaments in the knee help 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 front and back motion of your knee, and the ACL safeguards the tibia from slipping too far forward on the femur and provides stability when the knee rotates.

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 reduced. No Matter how significant your injury, trust in the Maplewood, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you fully recover.

Why an ACL Tear Happens | Maplewood, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries nationwide every year, and it is one of the most frequent knee injuries and sports injuries. They are common in contact sports that call for frequent and rapid cutting and switching directions, such as football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. According to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, almost three-quarters of ACL tears occur in non-contact injuries, such as cutting rapidly, and the rest are because of direct blows to the knee. 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 ground or landing with improper form
• Something or someone bumping into you
• A sudden reduction in speed or switching direction
• Spinning with a firmly planted foot
• Sustaining a direct blow 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 occur 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 sustain an ACL tear, likely because of anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | Maplewood, 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 parts of the knee were also injured. Some signals that you may have sustained an ACL tear include:

• A “popping” sensation 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 suffered an ACL tear, it’s vital to see a physician or a licensed physical therapist in Maplewood, MO to verify your injury and get you the treatment you need. We offer free, no-obligation injury screenings and know many excellent physicians in Maplewood, MO that we can connect you with. Your Axes physical or occupational therapist is an essential part of your recovery team, working closely with you and your doctors and medical providers to collaborate on your safe and efficient recovery.

ACL Tear Treatments | Maplewood, MO Physical Therapy

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

Immediately 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 swelling. In an examination, a doctor will evaluate your mobility, and likely order an MRI to verify the ACL tear and evaluate the completeness and grade of your tear.

As there is no blood flow to the ligament, a complete ACL tear cannot heal by itself. This means that you will need the help of licensed professional physical therapists in order to get back to the activities you love. The only way to fully repair an ACL tear is through surgery. So, surgery is often advisable for younger people, athletes who need their knee reconstructed in order to play, patients whose ACL tears were accompanied by other significant damage 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, you still have a long way to go before you’ll feel fully back to normal. After surgery, you’ll likely 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 Maplewood, MO to optimize your recovery and the success of your operation. Our ACL tear physical therapy experts will lead you through your recovery process with proven, customized physical therapy. As part of your treatment plan, we will:

• Reduce 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 return range of motion
• Do strength exercises to return you to full strength
• Possibly implement electrical stimulation as a supplement to the exercises

When you work with the experienced Maplewood, MO area physical therapists of Axes and take an active role in your recovery, you have the greatest chance of a complete and efficient recovery. Before you know it, we will return you to dominating the local flag football 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 | Maplewood, MO Physical Therapy

Unfortunately, many people sustain a second ACL tear and they can have permanent repercussions. Included in your treatment program in Maplewood, 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:

• Having a strong core
• Having strong hip and leg muscles
• Practice correct technique, for instance always landing with your feet directly over your knee
• Stretch consistently
• 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 getting you back to the things you love to do, but doing what we can to make sure that you can carry on doing them without being disrupted by another injury.

Some of the other services we offer in Maplewood, 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 Maplewood, MO | Axes Physical Therapy

It is normal to be nervous about your what your life will look like in the future after being seriously injured. If you’ve sustained an ACL tear, you might be impatient to return to your active lifestyle and physical activities you value. Trust in the knowledgeable professionals of Axes Physical Therapy to work in concert with you to implement a proven, customized rehabilitation plan to get you back to the basketball court, gymnasts’ mat, or just back to your normal, pain-free life. Contact us online or call the location are closest to you.