Ligaments and Tendons 101 - Learn and be Healthy!

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LIGAMENT BASICS NARRATION

Very simply ligaments are around to hold our bones together. It’s all part of this thing we like to call the musculoskeletal system. People sometimes confuse tendon’s with ligaments. While they have some similarities, tendons attach muscle to bone and ligaments attach bone to bone.

If you look at any joint, you’ll find a whole array of ligaments functioning to stabilize and limit the movement of the bones within (showing xrays of different joints on a real person). Take the knee for instance.

You have the Femur here and then the tibia and fibia. On top of that you have your kneecap or patella. Remember Ligaments connect bone to bone and in the knee lets show these 4 major stabilizing ligaments. This is your ACL. Here is your PCL. Here is the MCL and here is the LCL.

Now if you’ve ever tweaked your knee ligaments, or any other ligament in your body - say spraining an ankle, you’ll probably want to know what you can do to strengthen and heal them.

Unfortunately for us, torn ligaments are not like broken bones. They won’t just reattach themselves.

Here are the basics:

Ligaments are composed mostly of long, stringy collagen fibers that create bands of tough, fibrous connective tissue. Ligaments themselves are slightly elastic, so they can be stretched and gradually lengthen, increasing flexibility. But if stretched beyond a certain point, ligaments can become overstretched and compromise the integrity of the joint they are supposed to be stabilizing — so stretch with caution.

As a little tidbit, the term double-jointed actually refers to people who have highly elastic ligaments, which allow them to move their joints into more extreme positions than most people.

If you did injure a ligament - go to the doctor. Trained orthopedic docs are usually the best at diagnosing these injuries. Work with them and the physical therapy staff to find a rehab routine that suits your needs. It’ll help you get back on top of things quickly.