# Application of MRI in the Prevention of Sports Injuries in Physical Education Teaching

Authors: Jing Zhao
Journal: Scanning
 (2022)

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## Abstract

In order to explore the situation of ankle sports injury in physical education, the author proposed the application method of MRI in sports injury prevention in physical education. In a retrospective analysis of 28 patients with clinically diagnosed ankle injuries, taking ankle arthroscopy/incision as the standard, the sensitivity and diagnostic value of MRI examination for ankle sports injury were analyzed statistically. The result shows that 6 cases of ankle fracture were correctly diagnosed by MRI, and the diagnostic sensitivity for bone marrow contusion and edema was 100%. Among the 19 cases of clinically diagnosed ankle ligament injury, 16 cases were diagnosed by MRI, and the overall sensitivity was 84%. Of the 8 cases of calcaneofibular ligament injury, 6 cases were correctly diagnosed by MRI, with a sensitivity of 75%.Conclusion. 3.0 T MRI examination has high sensitivity for ligament, tendon, and cartilage injury, which can well show ankle joint injury and provide an objective basis for early clinical treatment and rehabilitation.


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## Body

## 1. Introduction

It is the obligatory responsibility and obligation of schools and society to create a safe campus physical education environment, strengthen the safety management of the campus body and teaching environment, and carry out campus sports safety education activities for teachers and students [1]. At present, the country is paying more and more attention to sports, and the variety of campus sports activities has also increased; students also like sports more and love sports; physical education is playing an increasingly important role in quality education; lack of certain sports hygiene knowledge, sports safety knowledge, and emergency measures after sports injuries often cause unnecessary pain after injury. In physical education, sports injury accidents occur from time to time, which not only directly damages the physical and mental health of students but also contradicts the purpose of “health first” in physical education. And one of the biggest obstacles for students to carry out sports practice is the occurrence of sports injuries in campus sports teaching activities.Sports injury is a difficult problem that needs to be faced in physical education; this phenomenon has seriously affected the normal progress of physical education; the occurrence of sports injuries in physical education activities has caused students to be physically and mentally injured to varying degrees, adding a heavy burden. It directly affects students’ learning and life [2]. As the organizer of physical education, physical education teachers should consider all aspects; it is very important to take the initiative to prevent the occurrence of sports injuries and to deal with them promptly and correctly. The occurrence of sports injuries is not scary; its serious impact is that it is difficult to recover from the impact on the students themselves, and later, sports injuries may leave a shadow on the students’ minds, so that students are afraid of physical education classes and are tired of physical education classes.


## 2. Literature Review

Asselin et al. found that the clinical diagnostic accuracy of the drawer test was the lowest among the three tests in 85 patients with anterior cruciate ligament injury; nevertheless, the drawer test is still widely used in clinical practice because of its simple implementation application [3]. Prasanna et al. combined mechanical testing with a noncontact full-field strain measurement system and quantified the surface strain distribution of the anterolateral collateral ligament and the functional movement of the knee joint; it is of great significance to study the rupture mechanism of the anterolateral collateral ligament [4]. Vidhya et al. reconstructed the three-dimensional anatomical structure of the hip joint by CT and found that the center of the femoral ball head of DDH patients was more anterior, superior, and lateral than normal people, which provided an anatomical reference for the treatment and classification of DDH patients [5]. By comparing the preoperative and postoperative CT images of DDH patients, Weiss et al. found that the preoperative hip anatomical parameters could predict the postoperative hip anteversion angle, which provided a reference for the formulation of the surgical plan [6]. CT also has its limitations. It has poor imaging effects on soft tissues such as cartilage, ligaments, and muscles; therefore, when using CT for joint function evaluation, it is generally only from the perspective of bone.MRI is also a tomography technology (Figure1); its principle is through the application of high-intensity magnetic field and radio frequency field, using atomic nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to scan specific parts of the human body; compared with CT technology, MRI has no ionizing radiation and is harmless to human tissues and organs, and MRI technology can image different human tissues in a targeted manner by setting different imaging parameters and can clearly image soft tissues, providing more abundant joint anatomy than CT for orthopedic information. Clement et al. collected MRI image data of knee joint of 180 patients with anterior cruciate ligament injury; by measuring the position of the anterior cruciate ligament on the femur and tibia in three-dimensional MRI images, it was found that the insertion point of the anterior cruciate ligament on the femur location is a susceptibility factor for its noncontact injury [7]. This study well demonstrates the advantages of MRI in imaging joint anatomy; excellent spatial resolution and clear ligament imaging are the prerequisites for this study; compared with CT, MRI has great advantages in both areas. Nielsen et al. quantified the T2 relaxation time of knee articular cartilage using T2-mapping sequence, a quantitative MRI technique, which found that OA patients had higher T2 relaxation time of articular cartilage compared to healthy individuals and found that T2 mapping can distinguish OA of different severity, indicating that this technology can reflect the level of knee cartilage degeneration [8]. Toomey et al. used glycosaminoglycan chemical exchange saturation transfer (gagCEST) imaging technique to measure a total of 96 lumbar intervertebral discs in 24 volunteers; the gagCEST signal was found to be higher in degenerated discs, indicating that this technique can quantify disc degeneration [9]. Different quantitative MRI techniques have different sensitivities to the biochemical components of joint tissue, so different quantitative MRI detection methods are often used for different diseases.Figure 1
MRI technology.MRI has the advantage of the best soft tissue resolution for complex soft tissue anatomy and can display image resolution in multidirectional imaging and can simultaneously display abnormal signal changes after bone marrow injury. The author aims to provide an objective basis for the early clinical treatment of ankle sports injury and its rehabilitation and focuses on evaluating the diagnostic ability of MRI for ankle injury in 28 cases.


## 3. Research Methods

### 3.1. General Information

A retrospective analysis of 28 hospitalized cases of ankle injury from January 2018 to December 2021 in the department of orthopedics in a hospital was done, all of which received ankle arthroscopy or/and arthrotomy. Twenty-eight injured ankles had complete medical records and preoperative MRI examination data; 19 were males and 9 were females (Figure2), ranging in age from 16 to 70 years old, with an average age of 42 years. Clinical manifestations: all affected ankle joints have a clear history of injury, manifested as ankle joint swelling, pain, and limited mobility. Among them, 6 cases were sprained while walking, and 22 cases were sports injuries (Figure 3); 17 cases were left ankle, and 11 cases were right ankle (Figure 4), postinjury ankle pain, swelling, subcutaneous ecchymosis, lameness, local tenderness, and positive ankle inversion test [10]. The 28 injured ankle joints were routinely taken anterior and lateral ankle X-rays before operation; among them were 5 cases of medial malleolus or/and lateral malleolus fractures, 1 case of posterior triangular bone avulsion, and 2 cases of inferior tibia and fibula separation, and no abnormal bone structure was found in the remaining patients. All patients underwent the first examination within 1 to 5 days after trauma. The interval between MRI examination and ankle arthroscopy/incision was 1 to 9 days (mean, 4 days).Figure 2
Gender ratio.Figure 3
Causes of damage.Figure 4
Injury site.


### 3.2. MRI Instruments, Examination Methods, and Scanning Sequences

A Siemens 3.0 T Verio superconducting magnetic resonance imager was used. Use flexible FLEX surface coils. Scan the ankle on the injured side of the patient. Take the supine position and adopt the foot advanced method. The lower limbs on both sides are straight, the affected foot is in a natural relaxed position (usually, the ankle joint is planted flexed 20° and slightly supinated), and the inspection site should be fixed to avoid internal and external rotation of the affected foot as much as possible [11]. The conventional scanning sequences are PD+Tse+Fs, TR/TE is 2650/31; T1-Tse, TR/TE is 750/16. Scanning orientations include (1) transverse axis scan: parallel to the top of the talus, from the lower tibiofibular syndesmosis to the lower edge of the calcaneus; (2) coronal scan: take the transverse axis as the orientation and perform coronal scan from the front of the anterior navicular bone to the posterior edge of the heel in a plane parallel to the line connecting the inner and outer malleolus; (3) sagittal scan: take the transverse axis as the orientation and scan from the edge of the medial malleolus (or lateral malleolus) to the edge of the lateral malleolus (or medial malleolus) perpendicular to the plane connecting the inner and outer malleolus; the scanning field of view (FOV) of the above sequence is 210 mm, the layer thickness is 3-4 mm, and the matrix is 256×240.


### 3.3. Ankle Arthroscopy/Arthrotomy

Orthopedic surgeons employed standard ankle arthroscopy techniques/arthrotomy and detailed documentation.


### 3.4. Statistical Analysis

MRI findings were compared with ankle arthroscopy technique/incision surgery, and the four-table dataX2 test was used; the consistency between the findings of MRI and the findings of ankle arthroscopy/incision was analyzed, and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.The mathematical definition formula for the correlation analysis of factors using the chi-square test is shown in(1)χ2=∑i=1r∑j=1cfij0−fije2fije.In the formula,r is the number of rows in the contingency table; c is the number of columns in the contingency table; fij0 is the observed frequency; fije is the expected frequency.The formula for calculating the expected frequency offe is as follows:
(2)fe=RTn∗CTn∗n=RT∗CTn.In the formula, RT is the sum of the observation frequency of the row; CT is the sum of the observation frequency of the column.By deriving the chi-square statistic from the above formula, it can be seen that if the expected frequency and the observed frequency are the same, the chi-square statistic is the smallest, which is 0; it can be inferred that these two variables are completely independent and have no correlation. The greater the difference between the expected frequency and the observed frequency, the greater the chi-square statistic that can be obtained, and the higher the degree of correlation [12].


## 3.1. General Information

A retrospective analysis of 28 hospitalized cases of ankle injury from January 2018 to December 2021 in the department of orthopedics in a hospital was done, all of which received ankle arthroscopy or/and arthrotomy. Twenty-eight injured ankles had complete medical records and preoperative MRI examination data; 19 were males and 9 were females (Figure2), ranging in age from 16 to 70 years old, with an average age of 42 years. Clinical manifestations: all affected ankle joints have a clear history of injury, manifested as ankle joint swelling, pain, and limited mobility. Among them, 6 cases were sprained while walking, and 22 cases were sports injuries (Figure 3); 17 cases were left ankle, and 11 cases were right ankle (Figure 4), postinjury ankle pain, swelling, subcutaneous ecchymosis, lameness, local tenderness, and positive ankle inversion test [10]. The 28 injured ankle joints were routinely taken anterior and lateral ankle X-rays before operation; among them were 5 cases of medial malleolus or/and lateral malleolus fractures, 1 case of posterior triangular bone avulsion, and 2 cases of inferior tibia and fibula separation, and no abnormal bone structure was found in the remaining patients. All patients underwent the first examination within 1 to 5 days after trauma. The interval between MRI examination and ankle arthroscopy/incision was 1 to 9 days (mean, 4 days).Figure 2
Gender ratio.Figure 3
Causes of damage.Figure 4
Injury site.


## 3.2. MRI Instruments, Examination Methods, and Scanning Sequences

A Siemens 3.0 T Verio superconducting magnetic resonance imager was used. Use flexible FLEX surface coils. Scan the ankle on the injured side of the patient. Take the supine position and adopt the foot advanced method. The lower limbs on both sides are straight, the affected foot is in a natural relaxed position (usually, the ankle joint is planted flexed 20° and slightly supinated), and the inspection site should be fixed to avoid internal and external rotation of the affected foot as much as possible [11]. The conventional scanning sequences are PD+Tse+Fs, TR/TE is 2650/31; T1-Tse, TR/TE is 750/16. Scanning orientations include (1) transverse axis scan: parallel to the top of the talus, from the lower tibiofibular syndesmosis to the lower edge of the calcaneus; (2) coronal scan: take the transverse axis as the orientation and perform coronal scan from the front of the anterior navicular bone to the posterior edge of the heel in a plane parallel to the line connecting the inner and outer malleolus; (3) sagittal scan: take the transverse axis as the orientation and scan from the edge of the medial malleolus (or lateral malleolus) to the edge of the lateral malleolus (or medial malleolus) perpendicular to the plane connecting the inner and outer malleolus; the scanning field of view (FOV) of the above sequence is 210 mm, the layer thickness is 3-4 mm, and the matrix is 256×240.


## 3.3. Ankle Arthroscopy/Arthrotomy

Orthopedic surgeons employed standard ankle arthroscopy techniques/arthrotomy and detailed documentation.


## 3.4. Statistical Analysis

MRI findings were compared with ankle arthroscopy technique/incision surgery, and the four-table dataX2 test was used; the consistency between the findings of MRI and the findings of ankle arthroscopy/incision was analyzed, and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.The mathematical definition formula for the correlation analysis of factors using the chi-square test is shown in(1)χ2=∑i=1r∑j=1cfij0−fije2fije.In the formula,r is the number of rows in the contingency table; c is the number of columns in the contingency table; fij0 is the observed frequency; fije is the expected frequency.The formula for calculating the expected frequency offe is as follows:
(2)fe=RTn∗CTn∗n=RT∗CTn.In the formula, RT is the sum of the observation frequency of the row; CT is the sum of the observation frequency of the column.By deriving the chi-square statistic from the above formula, it can be seen that if the expected frequency and the observed frequency are the same, the chi-square statistic is the smallest, which is 0; it can be inferred that these two variables are completely independent and have no correlation. The greater the difference between the expected frequency and the observed frequency, the greater the chi-square statistic that can be obtained, and the higher the degree of correlation [12].


## 4. Analysis of Results

### 4.1. MRI Diagnosis of Ankle Fracture and Bone Contusion

Of all 28 ankle arthroscopy/otomies, a positive diagnosis was made for 6 fractures. A total of 6 fractures were found by MRI, with a sensitivity of 100% and a 95% CI of 54.07% to 100.00%, as shown in Table1, fracture line or bone fragment displacement, and showed bone marrow contusion and edema associated with the fracture; MR showed patchy long T1 and long T2 signals in the bone marrow, and fat-suppressed sequences showed high signal.Table 1
28 cases of ankle MRI diagnosis of ankle fractures (n).
MROperationTotal+−+606−02222Total62228


### 4.2. MRI Diagnosis of Ankle Ligament Injury

In this group of 28 cases of ankle arthroscopy or/and arthrotomy, there were 19 cases of ankle ligament injury. Among them, there were 16 cases of lateral collateral ligament injury, including 8 cases of simple rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament, 5 cases of simultaneous rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament, and 3 cases of simple rupture of the calcaneofibular ligament, with 1 case of medial deltoid ligament injury, 1 case of simple rupture of anterior tibiofibular ligament, and 1 case of rupture of anterior tibiofibular ligament combined with deltoid ligament injury (see Table2). MRI correctly diagnosed 16 cases with a sensitivity of 84% and a 95% CI of 60.42% to 96.62% (Table 3). The MR manifestations of ligament injury are mainly partial or complete discontinuity of the ligament, thickening, shrinking, abnormal signal, and widening of the joint space; 1 case was missed, which was avulsion of the anterior talofibular ligament without obvious displacement. Among the 8 cases of calcaneofibular ligament rupture, 6 cases were correctly diagnosed by MRI with a sensitivity of 75%, and 2 cases were misdiagnosed as normal. In 1 case, the calcaneofibular ligament was normal and MRI suggested a suspicious tear. No posterior talofibular ligament injury was found in this group of patients. Statistical analysis showed that the difference between the two was not statistically significant, and the MRI findings were in good agreement with ankle arthroscopy techniques/incision surgery [13].Table 2
19 cases of ankle ligament injury (n).
DamageNumberLateral collateral ligament injury16Simple anterior talofibular ligament rupture8Anterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament rupture at the same time5Simple calcaneal ligament rupture3Medial deltoid ligament injury1Simple anterior tibiofibular ligament rupture1Rupture of anterior tibiofibular ligament combined with deltoid ligament injury1Table 3
Comparison of 28 cases of ankle joint MRI diagnosis and ankle arthroscopy/incision (n).
MROperationTotal+−+16117−3811Total19928


### 4.3. MRI Diagnosis of Tendon Injury

Tendon injury was rare in this group of cases; in 2 cases of Achilles tendon rupture, MRI correctly showed the continuity of the tendon; in 4 cases of tendon tenosynovitis, MRI showed effusion in the tendon sheath.


### 4.4. Cartilage Damage

Arthroscopic and MRI diagnoses were consistent in 3 cases, joint effusion in 10 cases; MRI showed muscle and soft tissue contusion in 17 cases.


### 4.5. Discussion

The ankle joint is one of the major joints of the lower extremity, and sports injuries are very common, mostly caused by excessive force during running and jumping, improper landing posture, or uneven ground; most fracture-dislocation lesions can be initially diagnosed, and occult fractures can be further diagnosed by CT spiral scan multiplanar reconstruction. However, for soft tissue trauma and cartilage trauma, ordinary X-ray and CT scans cannot provide sufficient diagnostic information. If the diagnosis of these injuries is ignored in clinical practice and treatment is not given in time, it is easy to cause persistent joint pain or joint instability [14]. Therefore, in order to carry out an early, accurate, and comprehensive evaluation of ankle sports injuries, in addition to plain X-ray films, it is necessary to use MRI technology with comprehensive evaluation advantages [15]. Due to its inherent advantages of multiparameter, multidirectional, and the best soft tissue resolution, MRI can clearly display fractures, bone contusions, and joint attachment structure damage at the same time, which can play a good supplementary role to ordinary X-rays in damage evaluation.The results of this study show that MRI has 100% sensitivity for the diagnosis of fracture injury and bone contusion and bone marrow edema, as well as the assessment of fracture and dislocation. The T2-weighted fat-suppressing sequence of MRI cannot detect the large-scale patchy long T2 signal of bone contusion and edema, which cannot be found in X-ray plain film and arthroscopy/incision. Its high sensitivity is because MRI technology can accurately reflect a series of pathological changes such as bone marrow edema after bone injury and intraosseous hemorrhage after microfracture and show corresponding abnormal signals and can obtain timely and comprehensive diagnosis of lesions. Bone contusion is a concept put forward after MRI is applied to clinical bone and joint examination, edema, hemorrhage of phalanx trabecular, and even tiny fracture of trabecular bone. It is the common main cause of pain after bone and joint injury, and sometimes, it may be the only cause. The diagnosis through MRI can avoid unnecessary or invasive examinations, guide the injured person to rest and recover in time, and promote the recovery of bone contusion, so as to avoid excessive weight-bearing which further collapses the already weak trabecular bone, the formation of compression fractures or cartilage degeneration, and other sequela changes. For patients with severe clinical symptoms and no abnormality in plain X-rays or only suspicious fractures, further MRI examinations play an important role [16].MRI also has high sensitivity for the diagnosis of ligament injury. The sensitivity of this study was 84% based on the number of ligament injuries. MRI diagnosis of ankle ligament injury criteria: (1) ligament continuity is interrupted; (2) ligament shape is wavy or curved; or ligament contour disappears [17]. Satisfying two diagnostic criteria at the same time can make the diagnosis more accurate. Since ankle sprains are mostly varus and internal rotation injuries, usually the lateral collateral ligament is more involved in ankle sports injuries, including three lateral collateral ligaments, the anterior talofibular ligament, the calcaneofibular ligament, and the posterior talofibular ligament. It is easier to diagnose the injury of the anterior talofibular ligament by observing the multidirectional and multiparameter imaging of MRI, but it is relatively difficult to diagnose the injury of the calcaneofibular ligament; analysis of the reasons considers that under the conventional scanning method, the anterior talofibular ligament can be displayed completely on the single-layer transverse axial image and can also be displayed on the coronal image, and it is easy to observe part or all of its continuity interruption, thickness changes, and signal abnormalities. The calcaneofibular ligament, whether on the transverse axial image or the coronal image, is completely displayed on the single-layer image and intermittently displayed on several consecutive layers. In this way, MRI is often difficult to accurately determine whether the continuity of the calcaneofibular ligament is intact, and the main signs of judging the injury are decreased calcaneofibular ligament tension and increased ligament signal swelling on T2WI, resulting in a decline in diagnostic ability [18]. Usually, ankle varus injury results in rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament or/and calcaneofibular ligament, of which the anterior talofibular ligament alone is the most ruptured. The second is the simultaneous rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament and the calcaneofibular ligament, while the posterior talofibular ligament is rarely damaged. In 3.0 T MRI thin-layer 3D scanning, especially isotropic high-resolution 3D scanning, high-quality images along the calcaneofibular ligament can be obtained. At the same time, the MRI technique is used to display these ligaments at the best angle. The scanning method is taken in the supine natural position, and the 20° oblique section to the head side can better observe the anterior talofibular ligament. Observe the calcaneofibular ligament in a 15° oblique section on the side of the foot, or adjust the inclination angle to the direction of 25° on the side of the foot; most of them can show that the basic requirements for diagnosis are met; the injury of the posterior talofibular ligament can be observed in conventional coronal scanning [19].In this group of 28 cases of ankle injury, 6 cases of tendon injury, MRI showed abnormal morphology and signal to make a definite diagnosis. MRI technology has the best soft tissue resolution and multiparameter and multidirectional imaging capabilities, which provide it with irreplaceable advantages. At present, MRI is considered to be the best diagnostic method for ankle tendon injury. Although there are many tendons around the ankle joint and their course is more complicated, through a comprehensive analysis, pay attention to the following two normal conditions: (1) there may be a small amount of effusion in the normal tendon sheath, especially in the flexor tendon sheath; (2) when the calf tendon is transferred to the sole of the foot through the medial and lateral malleolus, the “magic angle phenomenon” is often seen, that is, the signal of the tendon is increased on the short TE image (TE≤20ms), but the signal of the tendon on the long TE image is normal. Tendon injuries can be easily diagnosed. MRI for the diagnosis and grading of ankle talar osteochondral injury is an effective and noninvasive evaluation method. The diagnostic sensitivity of talar osteochondral injury in this group was high (75%) [20].


## 4.1. MRI Diagnosis of Ankle Fracture and Bone Contusion

Of all 28 ankle arthroscopy/otomies, a positive diagnosis was made for 6 fractures. A total of 6 fractures were found by MRI, with a sensitivity of 100% and a 95% CI of 54.07% to 100.00%, as shown in Table1, fracture line or bone fragment displacement, and showed bone marrow contusion and edema associated with the fracture; MR showed patchy long T1 and long T2 signals in the bone marrow, and fat-suppressed sequences showed high signal.Table 1
28 cases of ankle MRI diagnosis of ankle fractures (n).
MROperationTotal+−+606−02222Total62228


## 4.2. MRI Diagnosis of Ankle Ligament Injury

In this group of 28 cases of ankle arthroscopy or/and arthrotomy, there were 19 cases of ankle ligament injury. Among them, there were 16 cases of lateral collateral ligament injury, including 8 cases of simple rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament, 5 cases of simultaneous rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament, and 3 cases of simple rupture of the calcaneofibular ligament, with 1 case of medial deltoid ligament injury, 1 case of simple rupture of anterior tibiofibular ligament, and 1 case of rupture of anterior tibiofibular ligament combined with deltoid ligament injury (see Table2). MRI correctly diagnosed 16 cases with a sensitivity of 84% and a 95% CI of 60.42% to 96.62% (Table 3). The MR manifestations of ligament injury are mainly partial or complete discontinuity of the ligament, thickening, shrinking, abnormal signal, and widening of the joint space; 1 case was missed, which was avulsion of the anterior talofibular ligament without obvious displacement. Among the 8 cases of calcaneofibular ligament rupture, 6 cases were correctly diagnosed by MRI with a sensitivity of 75%, and 2 cases were misdiagnosed as normal. In 1 case, the calcaneofibular ligament was normal and MRI suggested a suspicious tear. No posterior talofibular ligament injury was found in this group of patients. Statistical analysis showed that the difference between the two was not statistically significant, and the MRI findings were in good agreement with ankle arthroscopy techniques/incision surgery [13].Table 2
19 cases of ankle ligament injury (n).
DamageNumberLateral collateral ligament injury16Simple anterior talofibular ligament rupture8Anterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament rupture at the same time5Simple calcaneal ligament rupture3Medial deltoid ligament injury1Simple anterior tibiofibular ligament rupture1Rupture of anterior tibiofibular ligament combined with deltoid ligament injury1Table 3
Comparison of 28 cases of ankle joint MRI diagnosis and ankle arthroscopy/incision (n).
MROperationTotal+−+16117−3811Total19928


## 4.3. MRI Diagnosis of Tendon Injury

Tendon injury was rare in this group of cases; in 2 cases of Achilles tendon rupture, MRI correctly showed the continuity of the tendon; in 4 cases of tendon tenosynovitis, MRI showed effusion in the tendon sheath.


## 4.4. Cartilage Damage

Arthroscopic and MRI diagnoses were consistent in 3 cases, joint effusion in 10 cases; MRI showed muscle and soft tissue contusion in 17 cases.


## 4.5. Discussion

The ankle joint is one of the major joints of the lower extremity, and sports injuries are very common, mostly caused by excessive force during running and jumping, improper landing posture, or uneven ground; most fracture-dislocation lesions can be initially diagnosed, and occult fractures can be further diagnosed by CT spiral scan multiplanar reconstruction. However, for soft tissue trauma and cartilage trauma, ordinary X-ray and CT scans cannot provide sufficient diagnostic information. If the diagnosis of these injuries is ignored in clinical practice and treatment is not given in time, it is easy to cause persistent joint pain or joint instability [14]. Therefore, in order to carry out an early, accurate, and comprehensive evaluation of ankle sports injuries, in addition to plain X-ray films, it is necessary to use MRI technology with comprehensive evaluation advantages [15]. Due to its inherent advantages of multiparameter, multidirectional, and the best soft tissue resolution, MRI can clearly display fractures, bone contusions, and joint attachment structure damage at the same time, which can play a good supplementary role to ordinary X-rays in damage evaluation.The results of this study show that MRI has 100% sensitivity for the diagnosis of fracture injury and bone contusion and bone marrow edema, as well as the assessment of fracture and dislocation. The T2-weighted fat-suppressing sequence of MRI cannot detect the large-scale patchy long T2 signal of bone contusion and edema, which cannot be found in X-ray plain film and arthroscopy/incision. Its high sensitivity is because MRI technology can accurately reflect a series of pathological changes such as bone marrow edema after bone injury and intraosseous hemorrhage after microfracture and show corresponding abnormal signals and can obtain timely and comprehensive diagnosis of lesions. Bone contusion is a concept put forward after MRI is applied to clinical bone and joint examination, edema, hemorrhage of phalanx trabecular, and even tiny fracture of trabecular bone. It is the common main cause of pain after bone and joint injury, and sometimes, it may be the only cause. The diagnosis through MRI can avoid unnecessary or invasive examinations, guide the injured person to rest and recover in time, and promote the recovery of bone contusion, so as to avoid excessive weight-bearing which further collapses the already weak trabecular bone, the formation of compression fractures or cartilage degeneration, and other sequela changes. For patients with severe clinical symptoms and no abnormality in plain X-rays or only suspicious fractures, further MRI examinations play an important role [16].MRI also has high sensitivity for the diagnosis of ligament injury. The sensitivity of this study was 84% based on the number of ligament injuries. MRI diagnosis of ankle ligament injury criteria: (1) ligament continuity is interrupted; (2) ligament shape is wavy or curved; or ligament contour disappears [17]. Satisfying two diagnostic criteria at the same time can make the diagnosis more accurate. Since ankle sprains are mostly varus and internal rotation injuries, usually the lateral collateral ligament is more involved in ankle sports injuries, including three lateral collateral ligaments, the anterior talofibular ligament, the calcaneofibular ligament, and the posterior talofibular ligament. It is easier to diagnose the injury of the anterior talofibular ligament by observing the multidirectional and multiparameter imaging of MRI, but it is relatively difficult to diagnose the injury of the calcaneofibular ligament; analysis of the reasons considers that under the conventional scanning method, the anterior talofibular ligament can be displayed completely on the single-layer transverse axial image and can also be displayed on the coronal image, and it is easy to observe part or all of its continuity interruption, thickness changes, and signal abnormalities. The calcaneofibular ligament, whether on the transverse axial image or the coronal image, is completely displayed on the single-layer image and intermittently displayed on several consecutive layers. In this way, MRI is often difficult to accurately determine whether the continuity of the calcaneofibular ligament is intact, and the main signs of judging the injury are decreased calcaneofibular ligament tension and increased ligament signal swelling on T2WI, resulting in a decline in diagnostic ability [18]. Usually, ankle varus injury results in rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament or/and calcaneofibular ligament, of which the anterior talofibular ligament alone is the most ruptured. The second is the simultaneous rupture of the anterior talofibular ligament and the calcaneofibular ligament, while the posterior talofibular ligament is rarely damaged. In 3.0 T MRI thin-layer 3D scanning, especially isotropic high-resolution 3D scanning, high-quality images along the calcaneofibular ligament can be obtained. At the same time, the MRI technique is used to display these ligaments at the best angle. The scanning method is taken in the supine natural position, and the 20° oblique section to the head side can better observe the anterior talofibular ligament. Observe the calcaneofibular ligament in a 15° oblique section on the side of the foot, or adjust the inclination angle to the direction of 25° on the side of the foot; most of them can show that the basic requirements for diagnosis are met; the injury of the posterior talofibular ligament can be observed in conventional coronal scanning [19].In this group of 28 cases of ankle injury, 6 cases of tendon injury, MRI showed abnormal morphology and signal to make a definite diagnosis. MRI technology has the best soft tissue resolution and multiparameter and multidirectional imaging capabilities, which provide it with irreplaceable advantages. At present, MRI is considered to be the best diagnostic method for ankle tendon injury. Although there are many tendons around the ankle joint and their course is more complicated, through a comprehensive analysis, pay attention to the following two normal conditions: (1) there may be a small amount of effusion in the normal tendon sheath, especially in the flexor tendon sheath; (2) when the calf tendon is transferred to the sole of the foot through the medial and lateral malleolus, the “magic angle phenomenon” is often seen, that is, the signal of the tendon is increased on the short TE image (TE≤20ms), but the signal of the tendon on the long TE image is normal. Tendon injuries can be easily diagnosed. MRI for the diagnosis and grading of ankle talar osteochondral injury is an effective and noninvasive evaluation method. The diagnostic sensitivity of talar osteochondral injury in this group was high (75%) [20].


## 5. Conclusion

MRI technology has the advantages of multiparameter, multidirectional, and high soft tissue resolution and can sensitively reflect the abnormal signal changes of bone cortex, bone marrow, ligament, tendon, articular surface osteochondral, etc. during ankle injury. It has extremely high sensitivity to the common fractures of the ankle joint, bone marrow damage, ligament, tendon, and cartilage damage; it provides a more “direct” and clear diagnostic basis for clinical diagnosis, which cannot be compared and replaced by other imaging methods. But at the same time, there are also some shortcomings; the optimization of ankle MRI examination imaging scanning technology plays a key role in the diagnosis of ligament injury, which cannot be recognized by most scanning staff; at the same time, due to the relatively short application time of imaging technology compared with other imaging technologies and the complexity of imaging image display, clinicians generally have limited reading and understanding. Relying on the combination and communication of imaging and clinical, more promotion and interpretation of image information, so clinicians can better grasp and apply it to guide the choice of clinical treatment. It is believed that MRI technology, as a noninvasive, painless, and nonradiative damage examination method, will have more and more broad application prospects in ankle injury.



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*Source: 7738233-2022-08-29.xml*