• Your legs support your body and allow you to walk, run, and jump. But like any other part of your body, they can get hurt or wear out. Learn about some common leg injuries and what you should do about them.

  • Your legs are a bundle of bones, muscles, and connective tissues that runs from your pelvis, also called hipbones, to your ankle and foot.

  • Each of your legs has four bones:

    • The femur, which runs from your pelvis to your knee, is the largest bone in the body.

    • The patella, or kneecap, protects your knee joint.

    • The tibia, or shinbone, and fibula connect your knee and ankle.

  • The bones connect to each other by pieces of flexible, fibrous tissue called ligaments. Similar pieces called tendons connect the muscles that move your leg to the bones. When you hurt your leg, it’s usually a bone fracture or a soft-tissue injury like a sprain or strain of the tendons or ligaments.

  • SPRAINS : When you bend or twist your knee or ankle in a way that stretches or tears a ligament, it’s called a sprain. Ankle sprains happen especially often among athletes -- it’s the most common injury in sports.

  • STRAINSLike a sprain, a strain involves your leg’s connective tissue. But a strain happens when the stretch or tear is in the muscles or the tendons that connect your bones to muscle. This can happen when you don’t warm up or stretch before physical activity.

  • Strains can happen suddenly, like when you pick up something heavy, slip on a wet floor, or take off running. Runners and other athletes often get strains. So do people who make the same motions over and over at work or playing sports like tennis.

  • A group of muscles on the back of your thigh, called the hamstring, is one of the most common points for strains.