ACL Tear Greater Womack, MO. ACL tears have a tremendous effect on your active and daily routine. One instant you’re flying down the field, competing in your favorite sport or playing with your kids, and the next moment you’re wondering if you’ll get to play or even go back to your job again. At Axes Physical Therapy in Womack, 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 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 Womack, MO, contact us online or locate the most convenient Axes location for you. Our mission is getting every patient a positive outcome and getting you back to the things that matter most to you, whether that means dominating your local Womack, MO pickleball league, or carrying your children on your shoulders without any pain.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament | Womack, MO Physical Therapy

Ligaments are bands found in joints made of durable, flexible connective tissue that attach two bones. The ligaments in the knee help maintain stability in your knee by attaching 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 control the front and back motion of your knee, and the ACL shields the tibia from gliding 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. Regardless of how severe your injury, trust in the Womack, MO licensed physical therapists of Axes to help you achieve a complete recovery.

Why an ACL Tear Happens | Womack, MO Physical Therapy

There are as many as 250,000 ACL injuries nationwide each year, 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 at high risk for ACL tears. According to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, 70% of ACL tears happen in non-contact injuries, such as cutting 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 motion is interrupted immediately before the injury. Some examples are:

• Landing on uneven footing or landing awkwardly
• Something or someone bumping into you
• A sudden reduction in speed or switching direction
• Pivoting with a firmly planted foot
• Sustaining a direct blow to the knee

Internal Factors

These concern 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
• Differences in genetics

ACL tears don’t just happen in sports, falls and work-related injuries can damage they ACL too. The elderly are also at high risk, as our bodies degenerate as we age. Women are 4-6 times more likely to suffer an ACL tear, likely due to anatomical differences.

Symptoms of an ACL Tear | Womack, MO Physical Therapy

After an ACL tear, you’ll likely feel pain in the middle of the knee. You might not necessarily feel significant pain after an ACL tear except if other parts of the knee were also injured. Some signs that you might have torn your ACL are:

• Feeling or hearing a pop in your knee
• Not being able to continue activity
• Rapid swelling
• Reduction of range of motion
• Instability when putting weight on your knee

If you think you’ve suffered an ACL tear, it’s crucial to contact a doctor or a licensed physical therapist in Womack, MO to confirm your injury and get you the treatment you need. We offer free, no-obligation injury screenings and know many excellent physicians in Womack, 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 | Womack, 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 health conditions like obesity or osteoarthritis, which can greatly affect you for the remainder of your life.

Directly following your ACL tear, it’s best to use over-the-counter pain medication and the R.I.C.E. method to mitigate pain and swelling. A doctor will then examine you, evaluate your mobility, and likely order an MRI to verify the ACL tear and assess the completeness and grade of your tear.

Because blood does not flow to ligaments, a complete ACL tear will not be able to regenerate 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 whose ACL tears were accompanied by other significant damage to other parts of their knee, or those whose ACL tear causes pain or weakness when performing basic, everyday tasks. 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 attached, you still have a long way to go before you’ll feel fully back to normal. 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 Womack, MO to optimize your recovery and the success of your surgery. 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 successfully 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 mobility
• Perform strength exercises to return you to full strength
• Possibly employ electrical stimulation to return strength and flexibility

You have the best chance for a full recovery by actively participating in it and trusting the licensed Womack, MO area physical therapists of Axes. Before you know it, we will return you to dominating the local pick-up league, or just enjoying the ability to sit down and stand up without feeling any instability in your knee.

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

Unfortunately, many people sustain a second ACL tear and they can lead to life-long consequences. As part of our ACL tear physical therapy services in Womack, MO, our Certified Athletic Trainers will educate you on how to avoid another ACL tear in the future. 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 proper technique, for example landing evenly on both feet
• Stretch consistently
• Perform balance exercises
• Perform warm-up exercises before sports or other physical activities
• Make sure you are using appropriate footwear

Our physical therapists dedicate themselves not only to retuning you to the things you love to do, but doing what we can to make sure that you stay off the sidelines.

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

• 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
• Hip Replacement Physical Therapy

ACL Tear in Womack, MO | Axes Physical Therapy

It is normal to be nervous 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 experienced professionals of Axes Physical Therapy to work with you to produce a proven, customized rehabilitation plan to get you back to the football field, bowling alley, or just back to your normal, pain-free life. Contact us online or call the location are closest to you.