Question

If a ligament is cut or damaged, the joint becomes:
A.Freely movable
B.Immovable
C.Unaffected
D.Unstable

Answer 1

Hint: Ligaments hold two bones together, they keep them from twisting too much.
Ligaments are connective tissues which join one bone to the other. Ligaments are made of connective tissues.

Complete step by step answer:
-These connective tissues that form ligaments are dense irregular connective tissues. Shapes of ligaments in our body vary with their location and usage. Ligaments may look like strings in some places while in the other places they look like bands, even the thickness of the band – like ligaments can vary. In other places, ligaments may be arch shaped. Our body has nearly 900 ligaments. Ligaments are composed of dense fibrous bundles of collagen fibres, spindle – shaped cells called fibrocytes and very less ground substance. Ground substance is a gel – like substance made of connective tissue.
-Ligaments are of two types:
White ligament – White ligament is rich in collagen. It is strong and non – elastic.
Yellow ligament – Yellow ligament is rich in elastic fibres. These fibres allow elastic movement, yet they are quite strong.
-The word ligament comes from a Latin word ‘ligare’ which means ‘to bind or to tie’. Hence, the main purpose of ligaments in our body is to provide stability to the joints or to hold the ends of bones together. This is done so that the bones do not twist too much or move far apart from each other. This property of ligaments provides stability to joints. Ligaments help to maintain stability in the body.
-As mentioned in the question, a cut or damage to a ligament will cause an issue with the movement of the bone. This implies that the structure which was holding the two bones together has been damaged, hence there is nothing that can provide the much needed stability to that joint. So, the joint in question will become unstable. Torn ligaments severely limit the movement of the bones, thus resulting in lack of stability.

Hence option D is correct.

Note:
-Ligaments are a band of dense irregular connective tissue made of collagen. Their sole purpose in the body is to provide stability to joints.
-While studying ligaments, it is important to note that tendons also perform a similar function, but tendons join bones to muscles.