Why do passive range of motion exercises

Remember the shoulders and the hips are ball joints and can pretty much move in any direction. We just need to move the limb through these movements. Next move it to the left and then the right. Neck — Same as with head but moving the head and neck together. Spine — While pet is standing, slowly turn pet in a tight circle in one direction, then the other direction several times.

While pet is on its side slowly stretch the body out so the spine is curved in a slight C-shape or curve the body in like the pet is curled up and sleeping. This the same movement you make when you stretch your body backwards and then touch your toes. General Practice Daytime Hours Day. Close Font Resize. Keyboard navigation. Physical therapy involves several kinds of range of motion exercises.

Among these, one of the most useful are exercises that improve and facilitate the range of motion. The range of motion is the phrase physical therapists use to describe how much movement you can make with a joint or a part of your body. Range of motion can be affected by several different causes: sprained joints or pulled muscles resulting from an accident or a sports injury , post-surgical lack of exercise, and a general lack of exercise can also result in a reduction in the range of motion.

Range of motion exercises that target these affected areas can help undo the damage and restore free and unrestrained movement to your joints and muscles. The abbreviations stand for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and muscular dystrophy, respectively. Contractures are caused by atrophy and shortening of muscles or joints that are not used, resulting in painful deformities.

Denise Stern is an experienced freelance writer and editor. She has written professionally for more than seven years. Stern regularly provides content for health-related and elder-care websites and has an associate and specialized business degree in health information management and technology.

Monitor the health of your community here. More Articles. Written by Denise Stern. Related Articles. Therapeutic Exercise for Physical Therapist Assistants. This allows for greater change over time. And if your purpose is to increase the flexibility of your muscles , working with a trained professional who is knowledgeable in this field such as a personal trainer is key as well. In addition, active measures can improve range of motion.

This is more commonly done as a dynamic warmup stretching , in which you move your body in various positions to increase circulation and range of motion. Stretching is best done prior to an activity or exercise. Some of the most common and safest passive range-of-motion exercises are related to stretching the surrounding muscles with the goal to increase muscle flexibility. One way to do this according to Martinez is with a tool such as a stretching strap.

This will help you hold a stretch for a more sustained period of time. However, having someone assist with the stretch is a more effective way to practice passive range-of-motion exercises. First, the trained professional understands proper limits and knows how far to go.

Second, they know how long to hold the stretch for. With that in mind, here are three passive range-of-motion exercises that Martinez said you can do yourself or get assistance with from a professional educated in stretching techniques. This will stretch the levator scapulae, a muscle that is tight in many people and tends to cause discomfort in the neck and shoulder blade.

Many people could benefit from increase hip flexibility, especially those experiencing lower back discomfort.