ACL Tear Greater New Haven, MO. ACL tears have an enormous effect on your active routine and daily life. One moment you’re running down the field, engaging 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 to work again. At Axes Physical Therapy in New Haven, 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 concert with you as a team and design tailored, empirically-backed treatment plans. If you’ve sustained an ACL tear, or any other injury, in New Haven, MO, contact us online or check out the most convenient Axes location for you. We focus on getting every patient a positive outcome and getting you back to what’s most important to you, whether that means breaking defender’s ankles on a New Haven, MO basketball court, or picking up your grandchildren without any pain.

What is the ACL? | New Haven, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of durable, 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, is in the center of your knee and crosses the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) so they make an “x”. The ACL and PCL work together to stabilize the forward and backward movement of your knee, and the ACL shields the tibia from slipping too far forward on the femur and supplies rotational stability.

ACL tears can be either partial or complete. Depending on the grade of your ACL tear, your capacity to bear weight and your motion will be affected. However severe your injury, trust in the New Haven, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you reach a complete recovery.

Causes of an ACL Tear | New Haven, 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. Athletes who play contact sports and/or sports where there is a lot of cutting and changing direction are the most likely to get ACL tears. According to reporting from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the vast majority of ACL tears happen in non-contact injuries, such as cutting rapidly, and the rest are the result of direct blunt force trauma. External and internal factors could both be at play when you suffer an ACL tear:

External Factors

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

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

Internal Factors

These concern the structure and anatomy of the knee and legs. Examples include:

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

While many ACL tears transpire 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 as a result of anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | New Haven, MO Physical Therapy

Following an ACL tear, you’ll likely feel pain in the middle of the knee. You might not necessarily feel sever pain after an ACL tear unless 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
• Inability to continue activity
• Rapid swelling
• Loss of range of motion
• Not being able to put any weight on your knee

If you think you’ve sustained an ACL tear, it’s vital to see a physician or a licensed physical therapist in New Haven, MO to diagnose your injury and get you the treatment you need. We offer complimentary, no-obligation injury screenings and work with many excellent physicians in New Haven, MO that we can connect you with. 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.

How to Treat an ACL Tear | New Haven, 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 lead to complications such as obesity or osteoarthritis, which can greatly affect your quality of 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 swelling. In an examination, a doctor will assess your range of motion, and likely order an MRI to confirm the ACL tear and evaluate the severity of the injury.

Because ligaments do not receive blood flow, a complete ACL tear will not be able to regenerate by itself. That is why the aid of a licensed professional physical therapist is necessary to return to the activities you love. Surgery is the only means available to completely heal an ACL tear. So, surgery is often recommended for younger people, athletes who need their knee reconstructed in order to play, patients with other significant damage to their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes their knee to buckle in basic, everyday activities. ACL surgery is usually 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, 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 have weakened. Axes Physical Therapy offers both pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation for ACL tears in New Haven, MO to get you the best results for both your recovery and your operation. Our ACL tear physical therapy professionals will be by your side throughout your recovery process with a personalized treatment plan that has been demonstrated to work. Our treatment methods will help to:

• Reduce pain and swelling
• Provide patient education so you understand your injury and why our methods work
• 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
• Do movement exercises and balance exercises to return range of motion
• Perform strength exercises to return you to full strength
• Possibly employ electrical stimulation as a supplement to the exercises

When you work with the experienced New Haven, MO area physical therapists of Axes and take an active role in your rehabilitation, you have the greatest chance of a complete and timely recovery. Before you know it, we will return you to tearing up the local pickleball league, or just enjoying the ability to climb stairs without any pain.

How to Prevent an ACL Tear | New Haven, MO Physical Therapy

Unfortunately, second ACL tears are common and they can result in life-long consequences. Included in your treatment program in New Haven, MO, our Certified Athletic Trainers will help you understand the best practices that help to avoid another ACL tear down the line. We recommend some of the following steps to prevent further injury:

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

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

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

It is normal to be apprehensive about your your 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 experienced professionals of Axes Physical Therapy to work in concert with you to design a proven, tailor-made physical therapy 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.