Ligaments are connective tissues that hold bones together. Ligaments, along with tendons and myo-facia, are composed of fibrous connective tissue and are very dense structures with little blood supply. The ligaments can become torn during the trauma of accidents or sports injuries. Even though they are very tough structures, repetitive stress can cause long-term damage to ligaments and make them vulnerable to tears.
Acute Signs
When a ligament is torn it is usually due to some trauma or improper use of a joint like bending in the wrong direction. There is often a popping or tearing sound along with immediate pain in the local area, loss of control of the affected joint or even the entire limb along with rapid onset of heat, redness and swelling.
Pain
Ligament tears are often extremely painful and the pain can be local to the site of injury (around the specific joint affected) or can be widespread over an entire limb. Pain tends to be sharp, hot or burning and very intense, sometimes enough to cause inability to use the affected area at all. Occasionally, as in repetitive injury tears, there is only limited dull or diffuse pain but this is not common.
Inflamation
The normal reaction to any injury of the body is inflammation and ligament tears are no exception. The general signs of inflammation are redness, heat, swelling and pain. These signs are due to the rapid infusion of blood and immune cells to the area as the body attempts to repair and protect the affected area. With ligaments, because of the limited blood supply, location near a joint, and density of the tissues, there may not be as much swelling but the pain may be more intense and the joint may lose function for some time.
Joint Dysfunction
Because of the nature of ligaments (dense connective tissues with limited blood supply) the inflammation and healing process may be delayed, extended or disrupted, causing dysfunction in the affected joint or local area. Ligaments are almost exclusively found a joints in the body and swelling in the area of a joint can cause the joint to become stiff or loose proper function for longer periods of time.
Chronic or untreated trauma to ligaments can cause changes in joint function the affects more than the local area. Entire functions, such as walking, can be affected long-term by the consequences of untreated or improper care of ligament tears.
References
- "Basic Pathology;" Kumar, Contran and Robins; Sixth Edition 1997
- "Trail Guide to the Body: How to Locate Muscles, Bones and More;" Andrew Biel; 2005
- "Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice;" Susan Standring (Editor); 2008
