Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
A sprain occurs when your ankle is forced to move out of its normal position, which forces one or more of the ligaments that surround and stabilize the bones out of its usual range of motion, causing the ligament to stretch or tear.
Examples of situations that can result in an ankle sprain include:
- A fall that causes your ankle to twist
- Landing awkwardly on your foot after jumping or pivoting
- Walking or exercising on an uneven surface
- Maughan KL. Ankle sprain. http://uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed May 21, 2009.
- Sprained ankle. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00150. Accessed May 21, 2009.
- Krabak BJ, et al. Ankle sprain. In: Frontera WR, et al. Essentials of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/138719924-7/0/1678/78.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-4007-1..50077-8--cesec5_1238. Accessed May 21, 2009.
- McKeon PO, et al. Interventions for the prevention of first time and recurrent ankle sprains. 2008;27:371.
- Ho K, et al. Ankle and foot. Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/138922549-4/0/1365/150.html?tocnode=51892075&fromURL=150.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-02845-4..50060-3--cesec7_2538. Accessed May 22, 2009.
- Bone X-ray (radiography). Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=bonerad. Accessed May 22, 2009.
- General nuclear medicine. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=gennuclear. Accessed May 22, 2009.
- CT: Body. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=bodyct. Accessed May 22, 2009.
- MRI of the musculoskeletal system. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=muscmr. Accessed May 22, 2009.
