Alar ligament

The wing bands ( Syn: Alarbänder, Alarligamente; alar ligaments; singular ligament Alare, engl check ligament of the odontoid. ) Are short, extremely tough, fibrous fibers ( bands) in the region of the head joints.

The alar ligaments pull on the dorsolateral surface of the tip of the dens axis to the ventromedial edge of the condyles ( occipital condyles ) of the occipital bone ( occipital bone ) at the edge of the occipital hole. Your caudal fibers are inserted on the lateral mass of the atlas. The right and left ribbon together form an angle of approximately 170 °.

The alar ligaments have especially braking and holding function. In the neutral zero position of some fiber components are excited, others relaxed. They prevent the lateral displacement of the head during rotation of the two head gegengüber joints. They also limit flexion and axial rotation of the skull over the cervical spine. They ensure the second cervical vertebra - and connected to the first cervical vertebra - to keep towards the base of the skull centered. Especially with lateral bending ( lateral flexion ) and rotations of the head to prevent by their anatomical situation translation and subluxation of the vertebrae.

Injuries to the ligaments alar

Violations of Alarbänder arise frequently in connection with whiplash injuries. As an example for the emergence dergartiger injury is the whiplash movement of the head in rear-end collisions. The injury occurs primarily in (even slightly ) of rotated head in combination with forward, sideways, or a combination of the two diffraction patterns of movement.

Diagnosis of injuries to the ligaments alar

Patients with a whiplash injury that is not a bony injury or injury associated nerve preserving, have the problem that they are examined by orthopedic surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, etc., and for the study of normal radiographs, mostly two-layer -rays are taken. These photographs show nature, not the changes of the cervical vertebrae or the section concerned, because usually a static recording is performed. This situation relates to modern research techniques such as the implementation of computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, because it is not and there is usually at functional studies. In a quiet supine patient no tear of the ligaments can be detected. It is to be compared with an outline of the bands of the knee joint. Are knee ligaments torn, the patient is not able to walk. X-rays, which are performed while lying on this, yet do not show any pathological findings. If the knee or even the whole leg examined by a neurologist because the patient can not run, no neurological changes would be detected. If the radiologist but held tray, so that a functional uptake of the knee joint sought, it could thus determine immediately the malfunction of the knee joint, that is the magnification of the knee joint gap in pathological form. The same is true for ligament injuries of the cervical spine, which are not shown in conventionally -built X-ray or MRI scans.

• Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery
• Band (anatomy)