The durability remains a question.
In a scene that Oakland Raiders' fans have gotten to know all too well, Darren McFadden was once again forced to leave a game due to injury.
It was then reported on Monday by head coach Dennis Allen that the former Razorback suffered a high ankle sprain on Sunday during the Raiders' match-up against Tampa Bay.
Coach Allen also noted that McFadden's X-rays and MRI were negative.
In other words, McFadden's X-rays did not show any of the typical bone fractures that sometimes go along with ankle sprains, and his MRI confirmed that the ligaments in the ankle were not torn.
That is the good news.
The bad news is that the words "high ankle sprain" are widely feared in the NFL, as the injury tends to linger for much longer than a low ankle sprain.
To get a sense of why this is, it helps to understand the functions of a ligament.
Ligaments, in the most general sense, support the skeleton. They are strands of tissue that connect bones to other bones, allowing for smooth and coordinated motion.
They also prevent certain motions.
However, if an outside force (such as from being tackled by an NFL linebacker) overloads a ligament trying to prevent one of these motions, a sprain occurs.
In a grade 1 sprain, a ligament is stretched beyond its normal length and may be microscopically torn.
In a grade 2 sprain, the ligament is partially torn.
In a grade 3 sprain—the worst type of sprain—the ligament is completely torn apart and the bones it once connected are now able to move freely.
In a high ankle sprain like McFadden's, any of the so-called "syndesmotic ligaments" can be injured.
The syndesmotic ligaments connect the two bones that make up the lower leg, the tibia (the shin bone) and the fibula (a thin bone that runs alongs...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
