I don't know about ankles, but in some cases - the most well known being ACL - if you have

a particularly naturally muscly area around the joint you can actually compensate by working up the muscle rather than having the ligament replaced.

I've seen it happen twice, once successfully, of around 14 times I've seen an ACL injury in my American Football coaching circuit. Both were actually my players at the time.

The ligament gives your joint the stability. If you can replace the stability with the muscle or by other *unknown to me* means then you don't need the ligament.

And of course that also means you're more likely to turn your ankle / knee in a ridiculous ankle once it is turned. So, Bale's lack of ligaments could have 1) been the reason why the ankle turned like that in the first place and 2) be the reason why he will recover so soon.

Posted By: Steve in Holland, Apr 5, 17:48:47