Further therapeutic measures | Torn ligament at the foot – What to do?

Further therapeutic measures

In addition to active exercises, there are also passive methods in physiotherapy that support the foot and the healing process. Electrotherapy and ultrasound achieve positive effects especially in the early stages. Splints, bandages and tapes secure the injured joint from the outside.

The latter are presented in more detail below. Since a torn ligament is no longer necessarily operated on nowadays, but can be treated conventionally, splints and bandages are available as additional support and protection. Splints are stable and made of solid material.

They fix the foot in one position. Thus they protect against a new unfortunate movement, especially in the acute phase.With special walking splints, the foot can be unrolled at an early stage and – as the name suggests – used for walking. In the long run, a splint should not be worn because the active, retaining muscles would be reduced due to the constant passive support.

The body always adapts to its own conditions: What is not needed, decomposes, what is trained, builds up. A splint is usually prescribed for the “critical” phase of about 6 weeks. Bandages are very tight-fitting soft supports, which means that they not only hold the body in place but also have a compression effect and thus, as with the bad luck rule, promote the drainage of tissue fluid.

They thus have a positive effect on wound healing. The soft support also often reduces the perception of pain. The extent of movement is much less restricted than with a splint.

For example, a bandage can be worn later, when the full load is restored, to support sports or other extreme loads. Taping exists as a further passive protective measure from the outside. In the case of a torn ligament in the foot, there are various techniques available.

On the one hand, a so-called lymphatic tape can be applied in the acute phase. The lymph is the tissue fluid described above, which accumulates to form a swelling. The lymphatic tape is applied from the affected area – the swollen foot and ankle joint – in small serpentine lines.

With a slight pull, the elastic tape runs to the site of the next larger lymph node accumulation, which in this case would be the hollow of the knee or the groin. This helps to transport the fluid in the direction of removal by slightly stretching the lymph channels under the skin through the parallel serpentine lines, thus allowing more lymph to be transported. If a tape is applied rather as a support, the so-called leukotape is suitable.

It is made of much firmer material and is less elastic. It is applied around the entire ankle joint in a certain adhesive pattern and pulling directions. Due to the fact that there is hardly any restriction in the range of movement, but only a limited durability, this tape as well as the bandage is especially suitable for limited strains such as sports.

Many soccer players or runners, for example, have a leukotape applied as a preventive measure to protect themselves from an annoying torn ligament with a long healing process. Kinesiotape is also available for the ankle joint. Like the lymphatic tape, this lasts up to a week and can be used for everyday life.

It is very elastic, but still supports the structures. Our foot and its ankle joint is exposed to injuries due to high stress and relatively low stability. Particularly extreme stress in sports, but even an unfortunate twist in everyday life can lead to torn ligaments – one of the most common torn ligaments in our body.

However, there are numerous exercises to rebuild active stability as well as passive support from the outside. This not only supports healing, but also prevents a recurrence. For a better understanding, a short excursion into the anatomy: we have an upper and a lower ankle joint, externally supported by three ligaments that extend from the fibula to the foot bones on the outside and on the inside by a wide fan-shaped ligament that extends from the shin bone to the inner side of the foot bones.

Movements made possible by the interplay of the joints are foot flexion and extension as well as inward and outward rotation. A ligament injury usually results from a so-called supination trauma – Latin for a twisting movement outwards. The ligament mostly affected here is the anterior talofibular ligament, the foremost ligament between the fibula and the ankle bone below.

The degree of injury is divided into ligament strain, partial rupture and finally complete ligament rupture, which will be discussed in more detail in this article. The resulting symptoms are severe pain, a feeling of instability, swelling, overheating, discoloration and impaired function – the typical signs of inflammation in our body.