Many people cannot participate regularly in active sports without an ankle brace. If someone has a torn anterior talofibular ligament, that person will have chronic instability. Figure 22 Figure 22 shows fluid in the joint at the level of the malleolar fossa. This man has a torn anterior talofibular ligament. Arthrography can show these tears.
Contrast leaks through the tear into the soft tissues.
However, there are a lot of false negatives with arthrography because the fluid cannot leak out. Within twenty-four hours this area becomes watertight. As arthrography would never change the course of treatment anyway, it is not particularly useful. One can see the asymmetry in the anterior syndesmosis in comparison with the posterior. This indicates that this man has torn his anterior tibialis fib, and that he has torn his anterior talofib.