ACL Physical Therapy
Injuries to the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), is the most common found in the realm of sports. It has been estimated that somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 individuals have experienced some sort of damage to their ACL. The ACL has a normal range of flexibility, which unfortunately can be stretched beyond its ability. When this occurs a “tear” or “rupturing” takes places within the ligament itself.
This happens quite often in sports, usually when a played makes too sudden of a movement or puts too much stress on the area when an individual torques the body away from the a planted foot. Athletes that wear cleats are also at a bigger risk of a torn ACL, however surprisingly women make up a bigger percentage of ACL injuries than men. The biggest problem with an injured ACL is that they don’t heal themselves. This is one area of the body that will remain “loose” without proper attention.
A rehabilitation program for an ACL injury should include flexibility exercises, strengthening movements, increased endurance training, coordination integration and agility training. The goal of all ACL physical therapy treatments is to reintroduce balance between the two legs. The injured leg needs to be reinstated as a equal counterpart of the hip girdle before treatment can be exchanged for regular activity. The therapy itself will focus on strengthening the muscles surrounding the knee, to reinforce the area that has been affected by the non-operating ACL.
First of all, the initial stages of physical therapy will focusing on developing a full range of motion in the knee. This will be essential to the overall health of the injured area in the long run. After flexibility had increased, then strength training will be introduced into the program.
How fast an individual recovers from an injury is dependent upon an influx of factors. Age is a big factor, since healing becomes more difficult the older you are. Consistency in your rehab exercises is of great importance since that will be the key to a speedy and safe recovery. The health of the injured individual before the injury will also dictate the rate at which physical therapy will enable healing after the fact.
Another factor that will affect recovery time is if your ACL has or has not been surgically operated on. If the physical therapy is a post-surgical program it may be more painful and the rate of recovery will be slower. If it is non-operative therapy than it tends to be easier. However, with this injury most physicians will prescribe a lifelong rehabilitation program to keep the body in working condition for the years to come.
Instability may always be a concern with those that suffer from an ACL injury, but with the proper dedication to the strengthening of the muscles surrounding the injury, most people can continue normal activity within three years. This estimation is of course dependent on the seriousness of the injury.
Tags: ACL, acl injuries, ACL physical therapy, ACL rehab, ACL rehabilitation, acl repair therapy, acl tear physical therapy, acl tear rehab, ACL therapy, knee pain, knee physical therapy, knee therapy, Torn ACL physical therapy