ACL Tear Greater Villa Ridge, MO. ACL tears can abruptly disrupt your active and daily routine. One moment you’re flying down the field, competing in your favorite sport or playing with your kids, and the next second you’re don’t know if you’ll get to play or even go back to your job again. At Axes Physical Therapy in Villa Ridge, 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 put in place customize, evidence-based treatment plans. If you’ve suffered an ACL tear, or any other injury, in Villa Ridge, MO, contact us online or check out the most convenient Axes location for you. Our mission is getting every patient a positive outcome and getting you back to what’s most important to you, whether that means burning corners in your local Villa Ridge, MO flag football league, or carrying your children on your shoulders without any pain.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament | Villa Ridge, 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 connecting 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 motion of your knee, and the ACL impedes the tibia from sliding 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. However significant your injury, trust in the Villa Ridge, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you accomplish a complete recovery.

Causes of an ACL Tear | Villa Ridge, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries nationwide annually, and it is one of the most common knee injuries and sports injuries. They are common in contact sports that entail frequent and fast cutting and changing directions, such as football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. According to 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 sustain an ACL tear:

External Factors

These are when your movement is interrupted just before the injury. Some examples are:

• Landing on uneven ground or landing with improper form
• Colliding with something or someone
• A sudden reduction in speed or switching direction
• Swiveling with a firmly planted foot
• Suffering a direct hit 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
• Genetic variations

ACL tears don’t just occur 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 suffer an ACL tear, likely owing to anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | Villa Ridge, 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 unless other parts of the knee were also injured. Some indicators that you may have torn your ACL include:

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

If you suspect you’ve sustained an ACL tear, it’s crucial to reach out to a physician or a licensed physical therapist in Villa Ridge, MO to verify your injury and come up with the treatment plan you need to recover. We offer free, no strings attached injury screenings and know many excellent doctors in Villa Ridge, MO that we can refer you to. Your Axes physical or occupational therapist, your doctor and medical providers, and you will join forces and work together to ensure your recovery is safe and efficient.

How to Treat an ACL Tear | Villa Ridge, MO Physical Therapy

It is imperative to get prompt, effective, personalized treatment for your ACL tear. If you wait, or your treatment is ineffective, it can cause problems like obesity or osteoarthritis, which can greatly affect how you live your 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. A doctor will then examine you, evaluate your range of motion, and likely order an MRI to verify 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 by itself. That is why the aid of a licensed professional physical therapist is necessary 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 a fully functioning ACL in order to play, patients with other serious damage to other parts of 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, you still have a long way to go before you’ll feel fully back to normal. After surgery, you’ll likely be given crutches so you can get around for the next few weeks, as your quadriceps muscles will have weakened. Axes Physical Therapy offers both pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation for ACL tears in Villa Ridge, MO to get you the best results for both your physical rehabilitation and your operation. Our ACL tear physical therapy specialists will work with you throughout 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 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
• Potentially use electrical stimulation to return strength and flexibility

You have the best chance for a full recovery by actively participating in it and trusting the expert Villa Ridge, MO area physical therapists of Axes. Before you know it, we will return you to tearing up the local pickleball league, or just enjoying being able to to climb stairs without any pain.

How to Prevent an ACL Tear | Villa Ridge, MO Physical Therapy

Unfortunately, second ACL tears are common and they can cause life-long consequences. As part of our ACL tear physical therapy services in Villa Ridge, 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
• Having strong hip and leg muscles
• Practice correct technique, for example landing evenly on both feet
• Stretch consistently
• Perform balance exercises
• Perform warm-up exercises before sports or other physical activities
• Always wear appropriate footwear

Our physical therapists committed themselves not only to retuning you to the things you love to do, but doing what we can to ensure that you can continue doing them without being upended by another injury.

Some of the other services we offer in Villa Ridge, MO are:

• Shoulder Pain Treatment
• 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

ACL Tear in Villa Ridge, 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 experienced professionals of Axes Physical Therapy to work in concert with you to produce a proven, personalized physical therapy plan to return you 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.