Ligament stubs

Ligament is a short band of tough, flexible, fibrous connective tissue that connects two bones or cartilages or holds together a joint. Ligaments are similar to tendons and fasciae as they are all made of connective tissue. The differences in them are in the connections that they make: ligaments connect one bone to another bone, tendons connect muscle to bone, and fasciae connect muscles to other muscles.

Structure

Ligaments are composed of dense fibrous bundles of collagenous fibers and spindle-shaped fibroblasts. The ligaments are covered by a thin sheath called the epiligament. The epiligament is rich in blood vessels and nerves that nourish the ligament tissues. Ligaments may contain a small number of elastic fibers, which allow them to stretch to a small extent.

Function

Ligaments serve to provide a passive limit to amount of movement between your bones, preventing excessive movement that could lead to injury. They also provide proprioceptive input to the brain that allows it to process what position the joint is in and how fast it is moving.

Clinical significance

Injury to ligaments can occur in many ways. The ligament can be overstretched, partially torn, or completely torn apart. Complete tears of the ligament are known as rupture. Symptoms of a ligament injury include pain, swelling, instability, and loss of function of the joint. MRI is the best choice of imaging to visualize ligament injuries.

See also

• Joint
• Tendon
• Fascia
• Connective tissue

External links

---

Translate: - East Asian 中文, 日本, 한국어, South Asian हिन्दी, தமிழ், తెలుగు, Urdu, ಕನ್ನಡ, Southeast Asian Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, မြန်မာဘာသာ, বাংলা
European español, Deutsch, français, Greek, português do Brasil, polski, română, русский, Nederlands, norsk, svenska, suomi, Italian
Middle Eastern & African عربى, Turkish, Persian, Hebrew, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Kiswahili,
Other Bulgarian, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, മലയാളം, मराठी, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, ગુજરાતી, Portuguese, Ukrainian