ACL Tear Greater West Alton, MO. ACL tears can abruptly upset your active and daily routine. One second you’re sprinting down the field, engaging in your favorite sport or playing with your kids, and the next second you’re wondering if you’ll get to play or even go back to your job again. At Axes Physical Therapy in West Alton, MO, we have committed 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 create tailored treatments plans that have been empirically proven to be effective. If you’ve sustained an ACL tear, or any other injury, in West Alton, MO, contact us online or find the most convenient Axes location for you. Our mission is getting every patient positive results and getting you back to what’s most important to you, whether that means running the bases in your local West Alton, MO league, or carrying your children on your shoulders without any pain.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament | West Alton, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of tough, pliable fibrous 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, 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 stabilize the forward and backward movement of your knee, and the ACL stops the tibia from moving 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 bear weight and range of motion will be reduced. Regardless of how significant your injury, trust in the West Alton, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you fully heal.

Causes of an ACL Tear | West Alton, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries nationwide annually, 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 changing directions, such as football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. According to data 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 due to direct blows to the knee. External and internal factors could both contribute to 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 awkwardly
• Colliding with something or someone
• A sudden reduction in speed or changing direction
• Spinning 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 knee and legs. Some examples are:

• The anatomical differences between men and women
• Flexibility of the hamstring
• Genetic differences

While many ACL tears occur 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 because of anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | West Alton, MO Physical Therapy

After an ACL tear, the pain will likely be in the middle of the knee. You might not necessarily feel considerable pain after an ACL tear unless other parts of the knee were also injured. Some signals that you might have torn your ACL are:

• Feeling or hearing a pop in your knee
• Having to cease activity
• Rapid swelling
• Loss of range of motion
• Not being able to bear weight your knee

If you think you’ve suffered an ACL tear, it’s critical to visit a physician or a licensed physical therapist in West Alton, MO to verify your injury and come up with the treatment plan you need to recover. We offer no-cost, no strings attached injury screenings and know many excellent physicians in West Alton, 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 Treatments | West Alton, MO Physical Therapy

It is vital to get effective and personalized treatment soon after your ACL tear. If your injury does not heal don’t, it can cause complications like obesity or osteoarthritis, which can greatly affect you for the remainder of your life.

Immediately after 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, assess your mobility, and likely order an MRI or other tests to verify the ACL tear and assess the severity of the injury.

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 advisable for younger people, athletes who need a fully functioning ACL in order to perform, patients with other significant injury to other parts of their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes their knee to buckle in basic, everyday tasks. In an ACL surgery, a surgeon will remove the damaged 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, your journey back to normalcy and the activities you love is still a long way from over. After surgery, you’ll probably 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 West Alton, MO to optimize your recovery and the success of your operation. Our ACL tear physical therapy experts will be by your side throughout your recovery process with a personalized treatment plan that has been proven to work. As part of your treatment plan, we will:

• Alleviate 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
• Fit you for a brace and teach you how to safely use it
• Perform movement exercises and balance exercises to increase range of motion
• Do 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 West Alton, MO area physical therapists of Axes. Before you know it, we will return you to dominating the local flag football league, or just enjoying the ability to climb stairs without feeling any instability in your knee.

How to Prevent an ACL Tear | West Alton, MO Physical Therapy

Unfortunately, many people sustain a second ACL tear and they can have life-long repercussions. Included in your treatment program in West Alton, MO, our Certified Athletic Trainers will help you understand the best practices that help to avoid another ACL tear later on. 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 proper form, for instance landing evenly on both feet
• Stretch consistently
• 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 getting you back to the things you love to do, but doing what we can to ensure that you stay off the sidelines.

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

It is normal to be apprehensive 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 alongside you to implement a proven, tailor-made rehabilitation plan to get you back to the basketball court, gymnasts’ mat, or just back to your normal, pain-free daily activities. Contact us online or call the location are closest to you.