ACL Tear St. George, MO | Physical and Occupational Therapy

ACL Tear Greater St. George, MO. ACL tears have an enormous effect on your active and daily routine. One instant you’re running down the court, playing your favorite sport or having fun with your children, and the next moment you’re thinking about whether you’ll get to play or even go to work again. At Axes Physical Therapy in St. George, MO, we have dedicated 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 with you as a team and put in place personalized treatments plans that have been empirically proven to be effective. If you’ve sustained an ACL tear, or any other injury, in St. George, MO, contact us online or find the most convenient Axes location for you. We dedicate ourselves to getting every patient great results and getting you back to the things that matter most to you, whether that means burning corners in your local St. George, MO flag football league, or picking up your grandchildren without any pain.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament | St. George, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of tough, pliable fibrous tissue that connect two bones. The ligaments in the knee work to keep your knee stable 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 in tandem to control the front and back motion of your knee, and the ACL prevents the tibia from gliding too far forward on the femur and provides rotational stability.

ACL tears can be either partial or complete. Depending on the grade of your ACL tear, your ability to put weight on your knee and range of motion will be reduced. Regardless of how significant your injury, trust in the St. George, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you accomplish a complete recovery.

Causes of an ACL Tear | St. George, MO Physical Therapy

There are up to 250,000 ACL injuries in the United States each 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 reporting from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, almost three-quarters of ACL tears occur in non-contact injuries, such as changing direction quickly, and the rest are caused by direct blows to the knee. External and internal factors could both be at play when you suffer an ACL tear:

External Factors

These are when your coordination is interrupted 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 changing direction
Swiveling with a firmly planted foot
Sustaining a direct hit to the knee

Internal Factors

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

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 too. 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 | St. George, 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 unless other structural damage was done to the knee. Some signals that you might have torn your ACL are:

A “popping” sensation or sound in your knee
Having to cease activity
Rapid swelling
Reduction 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 critical to reach out to a physician or a licensed physical therapist in St. George, MO to confirm your injury and come up with the treatment plan you need to recover. We offer no-cost, no-obligation injury screenings and have a great network of excellent doctors in St. George, 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 Therapy St. George, MO | Physical and Occupational Therapy Near St. George

ACL Tear Treatments | St. George, MO Physical Therapy

It is important to get effective and personalized treatment soon after your ACL tear. If you delay, or your treatment is ineffective, it can result in complications 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 manage pain and inflammation. A doctor will then examine you, evaluate your range of motion, and likely order an MRI to confirm the ACL tear and gauge the severity of the injury.

Because blood does not flow to ligaments, a complete ACL tear will not be able to heal 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. Surgery is the only means available to completely heal an ACL tear. So, surgery is often necessary for younger people, athletes who need their knee reconstructed in order to play, patients whose ACL tears were accompanied by other serious damage to their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes their knee to buckle in basic, everyday activities. ACL surgery is typically 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 attached, your journey back to normalcy and the activities you love is still a long way from over. After surgery, you may need crutches to move around, as your quadriceps muscles will weaken from disuse. Axes Physical Therapy offers both pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation for ACL tears in St. George, MO to optimize your recovery and the success of your surgery. Our ACL tear physical therapy experts will lead you through your recovery process with a personalized treatment plan that has been proven to work. As part of your treatment plan, we will:

Mitigate 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 increase strength
Possibly implement electrical stimulation as a supplement to the exercises

You have the best chance for a full recovery by actively participating in it and trusting the expert St. George, MO area physical therapists of Axes. Before you know it, we will get you back to tearing up the local softball league, or just enjoying the ability to climb stairs without your knee buckling.

How to Prevent an ACL Tear | St. George, MO Physical Therapy

Unfortunately, second ACL tears are common and they can result in life-long repercussions. Included in your treatment program in St. George, MO, our Certified Athletic Trainers will help you understand the best practices that help to avoid another ACL tear down the line. Some of the preventive methods you can take in order to prevent further injury are:

Strengthen your core
Strengthen your hip and leg muscles
Practice correct form, for instance keeping knees shoulder width apart while landing
Maintain flexibility
Increase your balance
Perform warm-up exercises before sports or other physical activities
Make sure you are using 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 certain that you can continue doing them without being interrupted by another injury.

Some of the other services we offer in St. George, MO are:

ACL Tear in St. George, MO | Axes Physical Therapy

It is normal to be nervous about your prognosis and road to recovery 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 with you to implement a proven, personalized rehabilitation plan to return you to the football field, bowling alley, or just back to your normal, pain-free daily activities. Contact us online or call the location are closest to you.