Inversion Ankle Sprains

A sprained ankle is a common athletic injury that also occurs frequently outside of the athletic realm.

Ankle sprains usually refer to injury of the lateral ligaments of the ankle and occur with forced inversion. Since the ankle is less stable in plantar flexion (toes pointed down) sprains often occur when the foot is in this position.

The ligaments involved in your typical inversion ankle sprain are the anterior talofibular, posterior talofibular, and the calcaneofibular. Typically minor ankle sprains will injure the anterior talofibular ligament where more severe ankle sprains may injure the others.

The fibularis longus and fibularis brevis are two muscles that help to evert the foot and protect against inversion ankle sprains. Because of this, when the ankle is sprained often the fibularis muscles are strained.

Ankle sprains are graded from 1-3: