Name _______Carolyn_______

Range of Motion
Introduction
You come home from school, run up the stairs and throw your backpack on your bed. This sequence of events took only
minutes, but used joints in your ankles, knees, elbows, shoulders, and wrists. You realize that when you threw your bag,
your cell phone slid under your dresser. You try to reach it, but you cannot seem to get your arm back far enough. Your
twin sister comes in and offers to help. She bends down, stretches and twists her arm and almost instantly, you have your
phone back. If we all have the same general arrangement of bones and joints, why was she able to reach the phone with
ease when you did not even come close?

Range of motion (ROM) studies assess joint motion and provide a measure of overall flexibility. You may have heard of
people who are “double-jointed.” This does not mean that they have twice as many joints as you do; rather, the ones they
do have are unusually flexible. We often use the everyday terms such as bend and flex to describe the motion of our
limbs, but scientists and doctors use specific terms to describe just how a set of bones move at a joint. These precise
terms describe the direction of motion as well as the relationship of one body part to another. As you will see in the next
lesson, muscles are often named using terminology that is linked to the type of motion they permit.

A device called a goniometer can be used to measure the angles resulting from the movement of various joints in the
body. You will match body actions with a range of motion photographs. Measurements from person to person vary and can
be compared to rate overall flexibility and range of motion.

Important Terms
o Depression and elevation

Depression is a downward (inferior) movement. Elevation is upward (superior) movement.

Opening and closing of the jaw.

o Rotation and circumduction

Circumduction is circular motion, such as rotating your finger around and around.
Rotation is turning around an axis such as moving the ball inside of a socket to lift arm.

o Flexion and extension (and hyperextension)

Flexion is bending (such as curling your arm) and extension is straightening out (such as
extending your arm.)
Hyperextension is when extension goes beyond normal limits.

o Abduction and adduction

Abduction is lateral movement away from the center of the body, such as lifting arms out to the
sides.
Adduction is medial movement towards the center of the body, such as bringing lifted arms but
to the side of the body.

o Plantar flexion and dorsiflexion

Dorsiflexion is lifting up, such as your toes off the ground and standing on the heal
Plantar flexion is pointing down, such as pointing your toes downward.
1. Obtain a Student Resource Sheet from your teacher. A goniometer, like a protractor, allows a person to
measure angles. One arm of the goniometer will remain stationary, while the other arm will move to
measure the angle of your limbs.

The axis (fulcrum) of the goniometer is placed over the joint. The moving arm follows the motion. Neutral
extension at each joint is recorded as 0 degrees. As the joint flexes, motion progresses towards 180 degrees.
In the picture below, the moving arm has progressed approximately 50 degrees.

2. To better understand how a goniometer works, view the video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUF7tpkVAIY and take notes in the space below.
Lateral rotation of the shoulder joint is 170°; Hypertension of shoulder joint is 50°. Flexion of hip
joint is 110° and hypertension of the hip joint using hip joint as the central reference is 110° on
average. The goniometer can also be used to measure radius and ulnar flexion of the hand.
 P3 Mean Standard Mean Mean
P1 P2
Measurement Name Nam for Deviatio for for Norms
Name Name
e Group nn Males Females
1. Shoulder Flexion Caroly Sahana Gauri ~90°
n
Right 125 152 140 148.25 18.65978 158 138.5
Left 127 153 140 144.25 11.77657 148.5 140
1. Shoulder
Hyperextension ~45°
Right 45 61 45 56 11.78983 59 53
Left 59 68 42 58.5 10.06231 53.5 63.5
2. Shoulder Abduction ~170°
Right 110 159 135 135 17.33494 135.5 134.5
Left 115 152 120 131.75 14.97289 130 133.5
3. Shoulder External
<90°
Rotation
Right 75 88 72 81 7.582875 80.5 81.5
Left 90 85 64 86.5 13.2382 10.5 87.5
3. Shoulder Internal
~90°
Rotation
Right 65 49 79 67.75 12.15267 78.5 57
Left 60 39 79 59.75 14.16642 70 49.5
4. Elbow Flexion ~130-
150°
Right 148 152 138 142 8.602325 134 150
Left 145 144 132 141.5 5.5 138.5 144.5
4. Elbow Extension ~0°
Right 10 5 0 5 3.535534 2.5 7.5
Left 25 4 0 11 9.77241 7.5 14.5
5. Forearm Pronation ~80-90°
Right 95 79 90 82 6.041523 82 87
Left 93 84 89 87 5.612486 84.5 88.5
5. Forearm Supination ~80-90°
Right 93 75 87 87.5 5.361903 89 84
Left 89 90 86 87.75 1.785357 86 89.5
6. Wrist Flexion ~90°
Right 75 85 87 85.75 7.462406 91.5 80
Left 85 81 48 71.5 14.36141 60 83
 6. Wrist
~80-90°
Hyperextension
Right 65 40 36 47.5 11.14675 42.5 52.5
Left 68 67 39 59.25 11.84008 51 67.5
7. Wrist Radial
~20-25°
Deviation
Right 25 23 33 25.75 4.322904 27.5 24
Left 26 25 35 27.5 4.387482 29.5 25.5
7. Wrist Ulnar
~35-40°
Deviation
Right 40 38 28 35.75 4.602988 32.5 39
Left 33 32 33 32.25 0.829156 32 32.5

Conclusion Questions
1. Describe how ROM values may vary from person to person. Why might there be differences?
The range of motion may be influenced by the configuration of bone structures within
the joint, thejoint capsule, ligaments, tendons, and muscles that act on the joint. It
can also be influenced by the amount of fluid surrounding a joint.

2. Which type of joint do you think allows for the greatest number of different movements? Explain
your reasoning.
Saddle Joints because they are in the wrist and ankle and can move in every which way.

3. What factors influence the range of motion of a joint?

Age, Body Type, Genetics, Flexibility, Activeness, Muscle mass

4. Explain how a person can improve flexibility at the joints.

Stretch a little each day, slowly gaining flexibility. Flexibility can greatly increase over time.

5. Your favorite team is winning the championship game. You drop to one knee, tip your head back,
raise one hand over your head, clench your fist and yell, “Yes.” Use the proper terms to describe
the movements undertaken by your joints.
When you drop to your knees you are using adduction to bring your knee close to the body. When you
tip your head back you are using circumduction since the neck is pivot joint, then when you shoot your
hand in the air you are using extension.

6. You overhear two men at the gym talking about their extensor muscles of the forearm. Based on
what you know about the motion at joints, how would you describe the movement of these
muscles?
Extensor muscles increase the angle between members of a limb by straightening the elbow.