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The ankle is a complex mechanism. What we normally think of as the ankle is actually made up of two joints: the subtalar joint, and the true ankle joint. The true ankle joint is composed of 3 bones: the tibia which forms the medial, portion of the ankle; the fibula which forms the lateral portion of the ankle; and the talus underneath. The true ankle joint is responsible for dorsi and plantar flexion of the foot. Just below the true ankle joint is the second part of the ankle, the subtalar joint, which consists of the talus on top and calcaneus on the bottom. The subtalar joint allows eversion and inversion motion of the foot. The talus has a shiny joint surface covering which allows your ankle to glide effortlessly across the shiny undersurface of your tibia. The fibula helps prevent your major ankle bone from shifting outward. On the other side of the ankle is the tibia. On this side yo