ACL Tear Greater Pevely, MO. ACL tears can suddenly upend 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 Pevely, 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 Pevely, MO, contact us online or locate 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 breaking defender’s ankles on a Pevely, MO basketball court, or picking up your grandchildren without any pain.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament | Pevely, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of durable, flexible connective tissue that connect two bones. The ligaments in the knee help keep your knee stable by connecting 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 together to control the front and back movement of your knee, and the ACL impedes the tibia from slipping too far forward on the femur and provides stability when the joint rotates.

ACL tears can be either partial or complete. Depending on the grade of your ACL tear, your ability to bear weight and range of motion will be lowered. No Matter how severe your injury, trust in the Pevely, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you accomplish a complete recovery.

Causes of an ACL Tear | Pevely, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries in the United States annually, and it is one of the most frequent knee injuries and sports injuries. They are common in contact sports that entail frequent and rapid cutting and changing directions, such as football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. According to reporting from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the vast majority of ACL tears occur in non-contact injuries, such as changing direction rapidly, and the rest are the result of direct blows to the knee. External and internal factors could both contribute to 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 awkwardly
• Colliding with something or someone
• Instantly decelerating or switching direction
• Swiveling with a firmly planted foot
• Receiving a direct hit to the knee

Internal Factors

These have to do with the structure and anatomy of the body. Some examples are:

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

ACL tears don’t just happen in sports, falls and work-related injuries can hurt they ACL as well. They can become more common as we age and our bodies weaken. Women are 4-6 times more likely to sustain an ACL tear, likely as a result of anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | Pevely, MO Physical Therapy

After 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 torn your ACL include:

• A “popping” sensation in your knee
• Having to cease activity
• Your knee becoming inflamed quickly
• Loss of range of motion
• Not being able to bear weight your knee

If you think you’ve sustained an ACL tear, it’s important to see a physician or a licensed physical therapist in Pevely, MO to diagnose 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 trusted physicians in Pevely, MO that we can refer you to. 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 | Pevely, MO Physical Therapy

It is vital to get effective and personalized treatment soon after your ACL tear. If you don’t, it can result in problems such as obesity or osteoarthritis, which can significantly impact how you live your life.

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

Because blood does not flow to ligaments, a complete ACL tear will not be able to heal on its own. That is why the aid of a licensed professional physical therapist is necessary to get back to the activities you love. The only way to fully repair an ACL tear is through surgery. So, surgery is often recommended for younger people, athletes who need their knee reconstructed in order to play, patients with other significant injury to other parts of their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes their knee to buckle in basic, everyday activities. 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 probably 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 Pevely, MO to get you a positive outcome for both your recovery and your operation. Our ACL tear physical therapy professionals will guide you through your recovery process with proven, customized physical therapy. 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 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 mobility
• Perform strength exercises to return you to full strength
• Potentially employ electrical stimulation to return strength and flexibility

When you work with the knowledgeable Pevely, 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 get you back to tearing up the local softball league, or just enjoying being able to to sit down and stand up without your knee buckling.

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

Unfortunately, many people sustain a second ACL tear and they can lead to permanent consequences. As part of our ACL tear physical therapy services in Pevely, MO, our Certified Athletic Trainers will help you understand the best practices that help to avoid another ACL tear down the road. Some of the preventive methods you can take in order to prevent further injury are:

• 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
• 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 activities you love, but doing what we can to make certain that you can carry on doing them without being upended by another injury.

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

It is normal to be anxious about your prognosis and road to recovery after being seriously injured. 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 knowledgeable professionals of Axes Physical Therapy to work with you to produce a proven, tailor-made physical therapy plan to return you to the basketball court, bowling alley, or just back to your normal, pain-free daily activities. Contact us online or call the location are closest to you.