Thank you for joining me again this evening for our nightly podcasts. I perform these podcasts in the hopes that you will be able to education yourself on the topics discussed so you can make better informed medical decisions regarding your health in the future. I am doctor Harrison Campbell of Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office. Previously we discussed the joint dysfunction of the sacroiliac joints and the associated symptoms with this condition. Tonight, we will be discussing ankles with a focus on the most common ankle condition, the ankle sprain.
The ankle or as sugar land chiropractors call it, the mortise joint is a very stable joint. Thee are three bones which come together to form this joint, namely the tibia, the talus, and the fibula. Now if you recall when we were discussing the lower leg in a previous podcast, the tibia and the fibula are the two bones which compose the lower leg. Of these two bones, the tibia is the weight supporting bone and the bone most people associate with their shin. The fibula is a smaller bone on the outside of the leg which plays a roll when we run. Now the talus is a small bone which sits below the tibia it is this connection which forms the true ankle. The bony prominence or medial malleolus on the inside of the ankle is the tibia and the body prominence or lateral malleolus on the outside of the ankle is the fibula. These two bones from a concave like structure where the talus slots in creating the mortise joint.
Motion wise, as you can expect with the bony prominences on the medial and lateral sides is mostly a hinge motion for flexion and extension. And when I say mostly, I do mean mostly. There are other motions which can and do occur, but for simplicity sake we will limit it to the primary motions. Now due to the number of ligaments in this area sugar land chiropractors will tell you this makes the ankle and foot as a whole very complicated. Similar to the hand and wrist we have numerous bones coming together to form the ankle and foot. Each of these bones is connected to the bones adjacent to it via ligaments. An injury to any of these ligaments is a condition known as a sprain. We will focus on the most common ligaments injured in a sprain of the ankle.
Anyone who has suffered an ankle sprain, and most people have at some point, will tell you that rolling the foot inwards is the most common. The reason for this is the anatomy of the joint. What this means is that the lateral ligaments, the ligaments on the outside of the ankle and foot, are the injured party. Therefore sugar land chiropractors know the two most commonly injured ligaments in this scenario are the calcaneofibular and the anterior talofibular ligaments. The severity of the sprain dictates the severity of the injuries to these ligaments. For mild sprains, the ligament is stretched producing microtears. We have discussed microtears before in regard to microinjuries that heal relatively quickly.
In this instance of a mild sprain we reduce the swelling via ice and apply compression to further reduce the swelling. Elevation, if available, will also help the reduction of the swelling. Beyond this initial treatment instrument assisted soft tissue work can help the repairing fibers form in the correct pattern and alignment.
As the severity increases the level of damage increases. This can include rupture, either partial or complete, of the ligaments mentioned above. Additionally, this can include fractures in the ankle. Now when we say fractures in this instance usually sugar land chiropractors are saying it is an avulsion type fracture. This occurs when a portion of the bone on the lateral malleolus is pulled off or the impact on the medial malleolus chips off, not common for ankle sprains.
An unrelated but often questioned injury is a high ankle sprain. This is not a true ankle sprain in the sense of the mortise joint being involved. A high ankle sprain as sugar land chiropractors will tell you is an injury to the interosseous membrane of the tibia and fibula. If you recall our previous podcast when discussing this tissue, it is a tough cartilage which anchors the tibia and fibula together and prevents them from separating. In order to a high ankle sprain to occur, typically the foot is rolled outwards. As we stated before, anatomically the ankle has reduced motion in this direction and thus the force travels up to the leg and the interosseous membrane is targeted instead.
As far an injury goes, a high ankle sprain heals slower than most common ankle sprains. This is due to the stability function the interosseous membrane plays. Naturally as we stand the tibia and fibula want to separate. Its physics based on the anatomy present. By injuring the structure which anchors those two bones together we have a issue where body weight plays against the healing process due to constant stress being placed on the interosseous membrane.
For sports, in the past this injury was a season ending injury usually due to the healing time frame. There have been some advancements in this area which sugar land chiropractors could recommend based on your circumstance. The tightrope surgery is the newest procedure on the block and they use anchors to tie the bones together which reduces stress placed on the interosseous membrane allowing the body to heal faster. To not be fooled however, there is still a healing process which must be done, it is not an instantaneous road to being better.
Thank you for joining me again this evening for another great podcast. I hope you enjoyed the discussion on ankle sprains. As always should you or someone you know require a sugar land chiropractors services or simply have more questions on what was discussed please call Restoration Health today. We would love to schedule you an appointment and get you on the path to better health today. Thank you once again for joining us. Have a good night.