What Is a Lateral Ankle Ligament?

Ligament, a type of "tendon", is a tough fiber band that holds and fixes joints or internal organs. Tough, or for tough, cricket. Shuo Wen Xin Fu: "Tough, soft and solid". "Ji Yun": ", or from Wei, Congge." It means soft and firm. It is not easy to break when deformed under external force. A ligament is a tough, fibrous band that connects bone to bone or supports internal organs.

Ligament, a type of "tendon", is a tough fiber band that holds and fixes joints or internal organs. Tough, or for tough, cricket. Shuo Wen Xin Fu: "Tough, soft and solid". "Ji Yun": ", or from Wei, Congge." It means soft and firm. It is not easy to break when deformed under external force. A ligament is a tough, fibrous band that connects bone to bone or supports internal organs.

Chinese name

Lateral ligament

Foreign name

ligament

Disease introduction

Knee joints have more ligaments and stability to the joints

Diagnosis

X-ray film

Structure and function of lateral ligament

The ligaments connecting the bones are regular fibrous connective tissues that help the joints. It is attached to the surface of bone and meets with bone tissue through fibrous cartilage; it also fuses with the outer layer of the joint capsule to strengthen the stability of the joint and is divided into intracapsular and extracapsular ligaments. The fibers are arranged regularly in a bundle. The arrangement direction is related to the tension on the structure, and the fiber bundles are also bifurcated to enhance the structural firmness. The regular dense connective tissue is mostly collagen fibers, but there are a few structures that are mostly elastic fibers. For example, the yellow ligament has strong elasticity. The fibrous connective tissue consists of fibrous connective tissues, and fibroblasts on the surface actively generate new fibers. This is a new source of fiber repair after ligament damage. Most of the ligaments that support the viscera are thickened peritoneal folds, which fix the viscera to a normal position or limit its range of movement. In addition, there are remnants of certain embryonic organs, such as arterial duct ligaments.

Common ligament diseases and treatment

Lateral ligament ankle ligament injury

Ankle ligament injuries are the most common in soft tissue injuries of the whole body, accounting for more than 80%. They can occur at any age, and are more common in adolescents. Among the ligaments of the ankle joint, the lateral collateral ligament was the most injured, and the medial collateral ligament alone was rare. Improper treatment can cause ankle pain in daily life, secondary ankle instability and ankle arthritis.

Causes of lateral ankle ligament injury:

The injury of the lateral ligament of the sacro-ankle joint is mostly caused by ankle joint flexion when walking, running, jumping, or going down the stairs on an uneven road. The degree of damage varies depending on the magnitude of the violence.

Sacral ligament injury can be divided into: minor ligament injury, first degree injury; incomplete ligament injury, second degree injury; complete rupture, third degree injury. Of the three lateral ligament injuries, the anterior fibula ligament is the most common. In severe cases, it may be accompanied by avulsion of the apical part of the lateral malleolus.

Treatment of lateral ankle ligament injury

Treatment of acute injuries

For the treatment of first degree injury, Chinese medicine can be used to reduce swelling and analgesia, to promote blood circulation and stasis, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics can be used. Ankle bandages are wrapped or ankle brace is applied for 2 to 3 weeks to encourage patients to perform ankle exercises early.

For the treatment of second degree injury, in addition to the above-mentioned drugs, local fixation treatment should be performed. Ankle varus can be limited by tape fixation or elastic bandage fixation. It can be fixed for 3 weeks.

For the treatment of degree injury, we should pay special attention to the early treatment of complete rupture, otherwise, the ankle joint will be left unstable and easy to repeatedly sprain the ankle joint. For the third degree injury, the conservative treatment method is to fix the ankle joint with mild valgus with U-shaped plaster. After 4 to 6 weeks, the ankle joint is removed and fixed, and ankle function exercise is performed. In clinical work, it is found that the method of surgical repair is not easy to be accepted by the Chinese people. For severely injured people, athletes or other professionals, surgical repair is very important. The surgical method is: a 5cm long skin incision is made from the distal end of the lateral malleolus forward to the cuboid bone tuberosity direction. After cutting the skin, the sharp incision can reveal the broken ligament, and only the anterior fibula ligament can be sutured. Postoperatively, the foot was fixed with mild valgus for 4 weeks, and then fixed with an elastic bandage. The ankle function was exercised and weight-bearing walking was performed.

Treatment of old injuries

The conservative method is to partially close and wear high-top shoes, to heighten the outer half of the sole by 0.5cm, and to widen the heel of the shoe, combined with the exercise of the fibula muscles for comprehensive treatment. In severe cases, surgical reconstruction should be considered. WatsonJones and Evans advocate a surgical method of repairing and strengthening the lateral ligament of the ankle joint with short fibula muscles to obtain satisfactory results.

Lateral ligament surgery

The skin incision is curved from the lower 1/3 of the fibula along the posterior edge of the fibula to the end of the lateral malleolus and 2cm forward. Cut open the skin and deep fascial free flap to reveal the long and short peroneus, lateral malleolus and talar neck. The short peroneus was cut at the junction of the tendon and abdomen, and the proximal abdomen and the peroneus longus were sutured, so that the active valgus strength was not affected. For example, if the suprafibula support band is broken, repair it with Evans method, drill a hole on the fibula at the end of the lateral malleolus from the anterior to the posterior, and pull the tendon out of the tunnel and fix it on the peroneal periosteum. If the support band is intact, use the WatsonJones technique: use a drill to drill a horizontal hole from the lateral malleolus forward and backward, the exit is the attachment of the lateral ligament anterior bundle, drill the second channel at the talar head, and finally on the fibula muscle below the ankle A hole is drilled obliquely in the back of the support belt attachment, the tendon is tightened through the three drilled holes, and the end is sutured to the short fibula tendon here. The ankle joint was fixed with plaster for 8 weeks. The plaster was removed for functional exercises, and the weight was gradually increased.

Indications for lateral ligament surgery

After the diagnosis of chronic lateral manic joint instability is clear, the surgical indications of the method described in this article are: (1) a medical history of less than 10 years, long-term external manic swelling and pain, and relatively active manic joint activity Highly demanding young adults; (2) Talus tilt angle is above 2 degrees; (3) X-ray examination: there is no obvious osteophytes on the medial sacroiliac joint and the medial talus, and the gap is not significantly narrowed. After the diagnosis of acute manic lateral instability is clear, young adults with high requirements for exercise and talar inclination angle above 2 degrees.