Not sure where your anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) are? You would be if you had ever injured one.
This ligament is commonly injured in athletes, and it’s estimated that about 200,000 ACL injuries happen in the U.S. every year. Yet not everyone who injures their ACL needs surgery. Medical research shows that only about half of the U.S.’s annual ACL injuries are serious enough to require surgery.
Recovering after an ACL surgery can be a long process, and most people will want every advantage they can get after such a procedure. Physical therapy is one option that offers many advantages after ACL surgery.
Three ways having physical therapy after ACL surgery can benefit you:
- Improving flexibility — A healing ACL can develop scar tissue. This tissue can decrease the overall flexibility of your knee long after your surgery. Physical therapists offer several techniques that can help break up scar tissue and improve joint and ligament flexibility. One is the Graston Technique®. This method involves physical therapists applying force and friction to the scar tissue with a special metal tool.
- Increasing strength — The inactivity of recovering from ACL surgery can leave your leg muscles weak. In turn, weakness in these muscles can hinder the later stages of your recovery. It can even lead to future injuries if it’s not addressed properly.
Strengthening the muscles that support your knee is a key goal of physical therapy after ACL surgery. Typically, this strengthening is done with various therapeutic exercises. Some of the muscles these post-ACL surgery exercises will target include the:
- Hamstrings
- Quadriceps
- Calf muscles
- Boosting healing — Physical therapists will also seek to boost the healing processes of your body. For instance, your physical therapy plan will seek to increase the blood flow to the recovering area. This flow allows the area to receive more of the nutrients and oxygen it needs to heal. In addition, the therapy techniques in your plan can help release natural pain-relieving compounds.
Find highly effective physical therapy after ACL surgery at Panther PT
Are you keen to find beneficial physical therapy for after your ACL surgery? Our Panther Physical Therapy team is primed to offer you the care you’re looking for. We excel at building post-surgical therapy plans that are unique to each patient. Furthermore, our team can help you prepare for surgery with our pre-surgical rehab service.
Contact our team today for more information about our surgery-related PT services or to schedule your initial appointment.