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Ankle Injuries: Causes and Treatments

Ankle injuries are often thought of as sports injuries. But you don't have to be an athlete or even a "weekend warrior" to turn your ankle and hurt it. Something as simple as walking on an uneven surface can cause a painful, debilitating sprain.

Ankle injuries can happen to anyone at any age. Every day in the U.S., 25,000 people sprain their ankle. And more than 1 million people visit emergency rooms each year because of ankle injuries. The most common ankle injuries are sprains and fractures, which involve ligaments and bones in the ankle. But you can also tear or strain a tendon.

What Kinds of Ankle Injuries Are There?

Ankle injuries are defined by the kind of tissue -- bone, ligament, or tendon -- that's damaged. The ankle is where three bones meet -- the tibia and fibula from your leg and the talus from your foot. These are held together at the ankle joint by ligaments, which are elastic bands of connective tissue. These keep the bones in place while stretching to permit normal motion. There are also muscles and tendons that protect the ankle joint, do the work of making the foot move, and help hold the joint in place.

A fracture occurs when there is a break in one or more of the bones. A sprain is the term that describes damage to ligaments when they are stretched beyond their normal range of motion. A sprain can range from microscopic tears in the fibers that comprise the ligament to complete tears or ruptures of the ligament. A strain refers to damage done to muscles and tendons, which connect muscles to bones, as a result of being pulled or stretched too far.

Muscle strains are more common in the legs and lower back. But there are two tendons at the ankle that stabilize the ankle and foot and protect them from sprains. These are the peroneal tendons. They can become inflamed as a result of overuse or trauma. The inflammation is called tendonitis. They can also tear, rupture, or slip out of place.

Acute tears result from repetitive activity or trauma. If the tears are degenerative, meaning they occur over a long period of time as a result of being overstretched, the condition is called tendonosis. The tendons can slip out of place -- subluxation -- as a result of either a trauma or a variation in the shape of the bone or muscle.

What Causes Ankle Injuries?

Fractures and sprains can result from the ankle joint being twisted too far out of its normal position. This can happen as a result of:

tripping or falling
landing awkwardly after a jump
walking or running on uneven surfaces
a sudden impact such as a car crash
twisting or rotating the ankle
rolling the ankle

Most ankle injuries occur either during sports activities or while walking on an uneven surface that forces the foot and ankle into an unnatural position.