ACL Tear Greater Murphy, 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 Murphy, 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 put in place tailored treatments plans that have been empirically proven to be effective. If you’ve suffered an ACL tear, or any other injury, in Murphy, MO, contact us online or check out the most convenient Axes location for you. Our priority is getting every patient positive results and getting you back to the things that matter most to you, whether that means burning corners in your local Murphy, MO flag football league, or picking up your grandchildren without any pain.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament | Murphy, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of tough, flexible connective tissue that attach two bones. The ligaments in the knee help keep your knee stable 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 control the front and back movement of your knee, and the ACL safeguards the tibia from slipping 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 ability to bear weight and range of motion will be impacted. No Matter how severe your injury, trust in the Murphy, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you fully recover.

Why an ACL Tear Happens | Murphy, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries in the United States every year, and it is one of the most frequent knee injuries and sports injuries. They are common in contact sports that require frequent and fast cutting and switching directions, such as football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. According to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the vast majority of ACL tears occur in non-contact injuries, such as changing direction quickly, and the rest are caused by direct blunt force trauma. External and internal factors could both contribute to an ACL tear:

External Factors

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

• Landing on uneven ground or landing with improper form
• Being hit by something or someone
• A sudden reduction in speed or switching direction
• Swiveling with a firmly planted foot
• Sustaining a direct blow to the knee

Internal Factors

These have to do with 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

While many ACL tears happen in sports, they are also common in falls and work-related injuries. They can become more common as we age and our bodies weaken. Women are 4-6 times more likely to suffer an ACL tear, likely owing to anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | Murphy, MO Physical Therapy

When you suffer an ACL tear, you’ll likely feel pain in the middle of the knee. An ACL tear does not always cause sever pain except if other parts of the knee were also injured. Some signals that you may have suffered an ACL tear include:

• Feeling or hearing a pop in your knee
• Not being able to continue activity
• Your knee becoming inflamed quickly
• Reduction of range of motion
• Instability when putting weight on your knee

If you think you’ve suffered an ACL tear, it’s important to visit a physician or a licensed physical therapist in Murphy, MO to verify your injury and come up with the treatment plan you need to recover. We offer complimentary, no strings attached injury screenings and have a great network of excellent physicians in Murphy, 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 | Murphy, MO Physical Therapy

It is imperative to get prompt, effective, personalized treatment for your ACL tear. If your injury does not heal don’t, it can lead to problems like obesity or osteoarthritis, which can greatly affect you for the remainder of your life.

Directly following your ACL tear, you should use over-the-counter pain medication and the R.I.C.E. method to manage pain and inflammation. In an examination, a doctor will evaluate your range of motion, and likely order an MRI or other tests to confirm the ACL tear and gauge the completeness and grade of your tear.

Because ligaments do not receive blood flow, a complete ACL tear cannot regenerate on its own. 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 necessary for younger people, athletes who need a fully functioning ACL in order to perform, patients with other significant damage to their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes pain or weakness when carrying out basic, everyday activities. In an ACL surgery, a surgeon will remove the torn 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 attached, 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 Murphy, MO to optimize your recovery and the success of your surgery. Our ACL tear physical therapy professionals will be by your side throughout your recovery process with proven, customized physical therapy. Our treatment methods will help to:

• Reduce pain and swelling
• Educate you on your injury and the rehab process
• Gradually and successfully 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 return mobility
• Do strength exercises to increase strength
• Potentially implement electrical stimulation to return strength and flexibility

When you work with the knowledgeable Murphy, MO area physical therapists of Axes and take an active role in your recovery, you have the best 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 your knee buckling.

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

Unfortunately, many people suffer a second ACL tear and they can result in life-long repercussions. As part of our ACL tear physical therapy services in Murphy, 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:

• Having a strong core
• Having strong hip and leg muscles
• Practice correct form, for example always landing with your feet directly over your knee
• Stretch consistently
• Increase your balance
• Always warm up before sports or other physical activities
• Make sure you are using appropriate footwear

Our physical therapists dedicate themselves not only to retuning you to the activities you love, but doing what we can to ensure that you can continue doing them without being disrupted by another injury.

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

It is normal to be nervous about your your future after suffering a severe injury. 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 experienced professionals of Axes Physical Therapy to work in concert with you to implement a proven, personalized rehabilitation plan to get you back to the basketball court, bowling alley, or just back to your normal, pain-free life. Contact us online or call the location are closest to you.