Ankle pain ? Difficult to understand at first glance what it is.

The joints are areas of great kinetic exchange of different nature: muscular, bone, connective and nervous.

The specificities are many, sometimes they involve several parts, sometimes they originate from afar … .. Let’s see what are the possibilities that involve our ankles.

Reading the ankle

In psychosomatics the lower limbs represent the means to “move forward”, our independence, but also our relational space to go through .

The ankle in particular symbolizes the decision of how, when and where to move or not to move. It is the seat of stability, elasticity or rigidity.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine tendons and joints are governed by the energy of the Liver , considered the “Minister of War”, deputy to courageous decisions, to take positions.

When our joints, especially wrists, knees and ankles, are painful there could be energy stagnations of the Liver to work on.

Causes of ankle pain

>  Sprain : it is a widespread trauma among those who practice sports, but even if we walk a little distracted and do not notice holes or steps. It consists of a partial dislocation of the talus , the upper bone of the foot in conjunction with the tibia and fibula. In severe cases the ankle swells and placing the foot becomes very painful.

>  Injury to the ligaments: they can be injured due to a trauma, a bad fall, an unnatural movement that caused strains. Also in these cases swelling, bruising, poor stability of the ankle are the symptoms that can be found.

>  Tendonitis : it can follow a trauma such as a sprain, but it can also be caused by a prolonged incorrect posture . The pain is localized, persistent and difficult to manage, generally without swelling, even if in the case of Achilles tendonitis, on the other hand, the heel is swollen and with little foot motility.

>  Bursitis : is a form of inflammation of the serous bursa of the Achilles tendon , caused by repeated workloads, typical of sports such as football or running. It manifests itself with localized pain, swelling and redness.

>  Fracture : the ankle fracture can involve multiple bone districts and often also involves the ligaments. The pain due to the fracture is intense, with swelling, bruising, and deformation to realign.

Ankle: a complex joint

The ankle is the joint that, as we all know, connects the leg to the foot and essentially involves three bone districts : fibula, tibia and talus , converging to the joint capsule which, thanks to the synovial fluid, allows movements without friction and trauma.

Laterally to the ankle, internal and external, in support of the same we find the ligaments, and around there are the tendons that perform the function of joining the muscles of the leg to the foot.

Complementing the physiology of the ankle there are two serous bags that contain synovial fluid: the retro-calcaneal bursa and the retroachilleal bursa.