The Leg Bone’s Connected to the Ankle Bone - By a Ligament!

Did you know that your body has a diverse collection of “connective tissues”? This unlikely assemblage features a number of star players that you’re surely intimate with. Cartilage, tendons, ligaments, bones, and adipose (fat) are connective tissues. Many authorities also squeeze blood and lymph into this category.

Tough collagen fibers are abundant in many connective tissue types, including ligaments which form connections between bones. Ligaments must strike a fine balance, providing firm and resilient connections while allowing some flexibility. They must have an effective and healthy collagen matrix and must also be the right size and shape for the body. 

Some people have very tight and firm ligaments and others have loose and stretchy ligaments. In the first case, a person is very physically inflexible and, in the second a person is flexible in the extreme.

Injuries, surgeries, and other conditions factor into the functioning of ligaments, too. Someone who has sprained an ankle repeatedly may develop loose ligaments making them prone to further sprains. Someone who has had surgery on a joint may have scar tissue that prevents ligaments from allowing normal range of motion. Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is an inherited condition that results, among other things, in highly flexible joints. 

Where on the spectrum do you reside? Are you highly flexible with a tendency to dislocate joints? Are you relatively stiff such that you spend yoga classes watching other people stretch in ways inconceivable to you? Are you somewhere in the middle? Have you had injuries that result in some of your joints becoming limited or too-unlimited in their movement?

This knowledge has practical ramifications: Generally speaking, those with loose ligaments benefit from strengthening exercises to build heftier muscles that can help ligaments support joints. Conversely, those with tight ligaments benefit from stretches to support and expand joint mobility. 

Photo Credit: Ketut Subianto

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