The musculoskeletal system is made up of the skeleton and the soft tissues attached to it, the latter including the muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
The Ligaments They are structures made up of fibrous tissue, mainly collagen, which have the shape of bands and are fixed to the bones at their ends, being necessary to give stability to the various joints. For this reason they are located in all joints.
They differ from tendons in that ligaments attach bones to each other, while tendons are the terminal part of the muscle that allows the muscle to attach to the bone.
Ligaments are also called the bands that form the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity known as the peritoneum and that have the function of stabilizing the liver and stomach by keeping them attached to the diaphragm muscle and the wall of the abdomen.
Ligament injuries
The most common type of injury that can affect a ligament is its abrupt stretching during trauma or inappropriate movement, which is commonly known as sprain.
Sprains can be of various degrees according to their severity, ranging from a simple elongation or stretching to its partial or total rupture, in the latter cases the joint loses its stability so a surgical treatment must be carried out that will consist of repair the ligament.
Another injury that can occur at the joint level and that involves the ligaments is the dislocationsIn this case, the stretching of the ligaments causes the bones to “come out” of their place. This is most common at the shoulder, knee, and hip level, usually it must be treated with surgery.
Most vulnerable ligaments
Although any ligament is susceptible to injury, some are the most frequent target of injuries due to the high mobility of the joints in which they intervene, such is the case of:
Cruciate ligaments of the knee. These are two cord-shaped ligaments found within the knee joint that connect the femur to the tibia; there are two, the anterior cruciate ligament and the posterior cruciate ligament. They are very important since they are necessary to give stability to this joint, the anterior cruciate ligament is the one that is most frequently injured during falls, sudden trauma or with the practice of sports such as soccer.
Ankle ligaments. The ankle is a complex joint that is made up of three joints at the same time, however there are two important ligaments that are the internal and external lateral ligaments that tend to stretch when carrying out the inversion or sudden eversion of the foot during a fall as it happens. when walking in high-heeled shoes, in sports such as basketball, track and field, soccer, gymnastics, or ballet.
