Ligaments

Ligaments are cords, bands, or membranous expansions of white fibrous tissue, which play an extremely important part in the mechanism of joints, seeing that they pass in fixed directions from one bone to another, and serve to limit some movement of a joint, while they freely allow others. Ligaments have been arranged in three classes: (1) Funicular, rounded cords, such as the external lateral ligament of the knee-joint, the perpendicular ligament of the ankle-joint, &c.; (2) Fascicular, flattened bands, more or less expanded, such as the lateral ligaments of the elbow-joint, and the great majority of ligaments in the body; (3) Capsular, which are barrel-shaped expansions attached by their two ends to the two bones entering into the formation of the joint, which they completely but loosely invest: they constitute one of the chief characters of the ball-and-socket joint, and occur in the shoulder and hip joints. See JOINTS.