Size and location Ligaments are found at all the joints where two bones are connected so that they can move, whether the movement is relatively free, as in the shoulder, or quite restricted, as in the rib joints. Although one may think of ligaments as something like rubber bands, they are more like sheets of plastic than like bands. Usually there are several overlapping ligaments at each joint, surrounding the joint on all sides. The main role of the ligaments is to connect bones at movable joints. Without ligaments, the skeleton would fall apart.
Ligaments also provide the outer surfaces of the joints.
Inside the ligaments there is a space that contains the smooth membrane and lubricating liquid that allows joints to move easily. The damage to ligaments that occurs from this cause is called a sprain . A minor strain may involve stretched ligaments, but when the ligaments tear, healing time increases. Tennis elbow often consists of a minor sprain along with inflammation of the tendon where it is attached to a ligament. Ligaments are made primarily of collagen, and for reasons that are poorly understood, collagen is sometimes attacked by the immune system.