Sprain - continued

Ligaments can be damaged by over using, over stretching, or by putting too much weight through the ligament. Sprains are usually referred to in three different degrees:

• A first-degree sprain means that a few of the fibres in the ligament have been torn. It causes your joint to feel a bit unstable and there may be some pain when the joint is moved.
• A second-degree sprain means that half of the ligament has been torn. This causes your joint to feel very unstable during movement. There may be some movements that cannot be performed because of this joint instability. There is also usually a lot of pain when the joint is moved.
• A third-degree sprain means that the whole ligament has been torn. The joint will be unstable and therefore there are some movements that cannot be performed. There is a lot of pain when the ligament is torn, however there usually is not much pain during joint movement after the tear. This is because the ligament has been torn in half and therefore it cannot be stretched anymore during movement.