Some of us can agree that we love rock and roll.

However, most of us can also agree that we don't love it when we step on a rock, and roll our ankles.

How is that for a segue into talking about the ankle?

Alright, enough of the bad opening lines, let’s discuss the joints of the ankle and the foot!

The ankle joint or tibiotalar joint, is a hinge-type synovial joint located between the distal ends of the tibia and the fibula and the superior part of the talus, which are the three main bones of this joint.

The main articular components of this joint are the trochlea and body of the talus, which articulates medially with the medial malleolus of the tibia and laterally with the lateral malleolus of the fibula.

In a nutshell, the tibia and fibula are bound together by the strong tibiofibular ligaments, and, together, their respective malleoli form a bracket shaped socket, which is covered in hyaline cartilage.

This socket is known as a malleolar mortise and is where the pulley-shaped trochlea of the talus fits.

The malleolar mortise is bounded posteriorly by the inferior part of the posterior tibiofibular ligament, superiorly by the articular surface of the tibia, with the medial and lateral walls being the medial malleolus and lateral malleolus respectively.

The joint capsule of the ankle joint is thin anteriorly and posteriorly but is supported on each side by a series of strong ligaments.

Its fibrous layer is attached superiorly to the borders of the articular surfaces of the tibia and the malleoli and inferiorly to the talus.

By contrast, its synovial layer is loose and lines the fibrous layer of the capsule.

Now, the supportive ligaments reinforce the ankle joint.

Laterally, there’s the lateral ligament of the ankle consisting of three completely separate ligaments which help prevent inversion of the ankle.

First, there’s the anterior talofibular ligament that extends anteromedially from the lateral malleolus to the neck of the talus.

Second, there’s the posterior talofibular ligament, which runs horizontally, medially and posteriorly from the malleolar fossa to the lateral tubercle of the talus.

And third, there’s the calcaneofibular ligament, which passes posteroinferiorly from the tip of the lateral malleolus to the lateral surface of the calcaneus.