Prelude to ankle sprain: Do you know your ankle well enough?

Ankle sprain can be said to be the first of the top ten hidden sports injuries.

Statistics show that

Lateral ankle sprains account for approximately 85% of all ankle sprains.

Even if you don't exercise,

You may also twist your ankle when you walk unsteadily.

I believe you must have encountered this before.

Even if it didn't happen to me,

You must have seen friends around you sprain their ankles.

Before we discuss ankle sprains in detail,

Let us first teach you a little more about your ankles.

What do your ankles do for you? Functions of the ankles

When you stand, walk, run or jump,

Your ankles support your weight.

Absorbs impact from the ground.

And let your lower limbs move flexibly,

Fine-tune your body's center of gravity.

If you want to move your body,

Almost all of them are related to the ankle.

The ankle doesn’t just have one joint!

You can try rotating your ankle in different directions.

You will find that he is actually quite flexible.

The scope of activities is very large.

But I still lost to my shoulders.

After all, the shoulder is the king of mobility.

The reason why the ankle can rotate so flexibly is that

Because it is actually made up of more than one joint.

The syndesmotic joint assists in the horizontal rotation of your ankle.

The ankle joint ( tibiotalar joint ) allows your foot to lift and step down.

The subtalar joint allows your foot to turn in and out.

Tibiofibular joint at the junction of the lower leg and ankle

The tibiofibular joint is a somewhat special joint.

He has no muscles across this joint.

It uses the opening and closing of the fibula and tibia to assist you in rotation.

For example, Kobe's ankle on his turnaround jump shot.

The lower edge of your fibula,

That is the protruding part on the outside of the ankle.

There are many ligaments that connect and secure the bones around the ankle.

Their names are easy to remember.

The fibula and tibia are connected by the anterior tibiofibular ligament and the posterior tibiofibular ligament .

The ligaments connected to the talus are called the anterior talofibular ligament and the posterior talofibular ligament .

The ligament connected to the calcaneus is called the calcaneofibular ligament .

Think back to when these ligaments are sprained in an ankle.

Where is the pain most common?

Yes, the most commonly injured ligament is the anterior talofibular ligament .

Another type of sprain is called a high ankle sprain.

It is easy to happen when the body is rotating.

For example, a turnaround jump shot.

High ankle sprains are prone to injury to the anterior and posterior tibiofibular ligaments .

You basically can't fully squat at this time.

Because the tibiofibular joint opens when you squat.

The ligaments will be stretched.

It will hurt.

The ankle joint actually only has one direction of motion! ?

The ankle joint we often refer to is actually the integrated activity area of ​​three joints.

If broken down,

The actual ankle joint.

It's actually just part of the ankle.

This joint has another name: tibiotalar joint .

Because it is the joint between the tibia and talus.

He actually has only one direction of activity.

That is, move your ankles up and down.

Tibia and fibula plus talus,

This forms a "mortise and tenon"-like joint.

The tibia and fibula that grow down from the upper leg form a "groove".

Then the talus below is the "tenon".

The talus moves in the groove of the tibia and fibula.

Complete plantar flexion and dorsiflexion of the foot.

The other flexible angles are actually the masterpiece of the subtalar joint.

The ankle joint is actually a hinge joint.

The central figure of ankle sprain: the subtalar joint

The subtalar joint is responsible for the inversion and eversion of your ankle.

The essence of foot inversion is that the calcaneus moves inward around the talus.

Foot eversion is the lateral movement of the calcaneus around the talus.

so,

The motion plane of the supratalar joint is the sagittal plane, which can only provide forward and backward movement.

The motion surface of the subtalar joint is the coronal plane, which only allows inward and outward movement.

Look here,

Maybe you are thinking that if there is no subtalar joint, my life will not capsize! ! ! !

That's right.

Just like there would be no headache without a head.

But without a head you can't think,

I can’t scroll through my phone, fool around, or watch TV series anymore.

same,

The absence of a subtalar joint greatly reduces the chances of a foot sprain.

But it will also be very difficult for you to walk.

Did you know?

In fact, every step you take,

Your subtalar joint is helping you make fine adjustments.

Without it, your walking will be choppy and unsmooth.

And if the road is uneven, you will fall easily.

Because you have one less joint to help you adapt to the ground!

Thick medial ankle ligaments

I just mentioned that the ligament on the outside of the ankle is centered on the lower edge of the fibula.

The medial ligament is connected to the nearby bones centered at the lower edge of the tibia.

The convex part of the inside of the ankle (the inner ankle)

But not as convex as the outside.

It is the lower edge of the tibia.

It has a triangular ligament called the deltoid ligament.

The deltoid ligament on the inside of the ankle is very strong.

For most people it is not easy to get hurt.

For some athletes (e.g. football players ),

On the contrary, injuries often occur due to frequent use with great force.

Next we can try it.

You can sit or stand.

Then he jumped and gently pressed the ground with his feet.

Then turn the inside of your foot up.

Continue to maintain pressure on the ground with the outside and back of your feet.

At this point you can easily feel pressure or even pain on the outside of your ankle.

If you have sprained your ankle,

Be careful when attempting this.

Use very light force and you will feel a familiar pain .

The above test is the common cause of ankle sprains: foot inversion and plantar flexion.

but,

Why do we easily sprain our ankles when doing these two movements?

Let's start with inversion and eversion .

These two actions occur at the subtalar joint.

Although the subtalar joint is the joint where the talus and calcaneus meet,

But the tibia and fibula are still affected.

In particular, the fibula is located much lower on the lateral ankle than the tibia is on the medial ankle .

So when our ankles want to turn outward ,

The fibula will have more impact than the tibia when rolling inward .

This is why the range of motion in inversion is naturally much greater than the range of motion in eversion.

Let’s look at plantar flexion and dorsiflexion of the foot .

These two actions occur at the supralal joint.

That is, the movement between the talus and the tibia and fibula.

Due to the shape of the talus bone, which is wide in front and narrow in the back ,

When we plantar flex the foot , the talus tends to loosen up .

When we dorsiflex the foot , the talus tends to compact .

When the ankle joint is in plantar flexion (that is, when we do the action of tiptoeing),

Often the feet will turn inwards - that is, the soles of the feet turn inwards.

Due to the unique anatomical structure of the ankle joint,

At this time, the ankle joint cannot match well.

It is in an unstable state of " too flexible, but not stable enough ".

so,

When we plantar flex our ankle (such as wearing high heels, walking down stairs, going down a hill, landing after jumping, etc.),

If you lose balance,

It can easily cause the joint to turn inward.

This causes an inversion injury to the ankle joint - that is, a lateral ankle sprain.

therefore,

Most people sprain their ankles during exercise.

For various reasons,

Do a foot inversion or plantar flexion movement,

The soft tissue around the ankle is damaged.

Causes ankle pain.

At this time,

The soft tissue in the ankle joint is squeezed and impacted, resulting in cartilage surface damage and synovial swelling.

Causes swelling and bruising around the ankle joint.

After understanding the principles of common ankle sprains,

Let’s talk about solutions and prevention.

actually,

Knowing that our ankles are most likely to be sprained when doing plantar flexion and inversion ,

Try to avoid these two actions in your daily life.

That’s a very good way to prevent it.