Video and Transcript: Anatomy of Ankle Sprains and Rolled Ankles and Torn Ligament in Ankles

Hi, everyone! Dr. Orit Hickman here, owner of Pain Science Physical Therapy. I wanted to put together a quick video to educate you a little bit on ankles and ligaments and ankle sprains. 

So, this is a really common diagnosis. We see it a lot in the clinical setting. 

And, I've got a little model here. This is a foot model. It's really important to note that this foot model is pretty floppy because it doesn't have any ligaments attaching the bones to each other. So, ligaments attach bones to each other and help to give stability. You have ligaments all over your body. Part of the importance of ligaments, beside the fact that they help to give stabilisation to the bones, is that they also have nerve endings in them called proprioceptors. And, those proprioceptors help you know where your ankle (and other joints in your body) where they are in space. 

So, forgive my crude drawing, but this is your fibula bone. This is your heel bone. And, right over here is your talus, which is what actually that fibula bone comes down and attaches to. So, ligaments (I know it's awful. Sorry guys.) What ligaments do is they connect the bones to each other, just like this. This one goes straight back. So, these are the ligaments on the outside of, in this case, the right angle. And, their job is to check motion. So, their job is to prevent the bones from going too far away from each other. When you roll your ankle, you actually injure those ligaments, and you get little micro tears in the tissue here. So, this will heal. But, unfortunately, one of the most common things that happens after a rolled ankle is that the ligaments stay a little bit stretchier, and you're more likely to roll your ankle again. So, there are exercises that we give patients to prevent this from happening. If you check out my next video, you'll get that information. 

Hope this was helpful. And, if you guys can, I'd really appreciate a thumbs-up and any comments down below. And, good luck! Have a good one.