Testing Possibilities

Measuring a patients range of motion is a staple in every single session with me. Just like going to get fitted for clothing, taking new measurements is a requirement. Your tailor and I probably have similar intentions. The person in front of me is not the same person I saw at their last visit. There is always a change, and without determining where that change resides, all subsequent interventions may be off by the slightest measure.

Taking range of motion measurements is a skill most physical therapy students have early in their careers. The interpretation of those measurements differentiates practitioners. If we assume that those measurements are only indicative of how the local joints move, then the level of complication would increase exponentially. What if the measurements we take of any joint, reflect the entire system as a whole? Let’s suspend our disbelief for a moment and consider that level of simplicity.

We all understand to some degree, that everything in the body is connected to itself. Moving would be quite challenging if that were not the case. With that idea in mind, it stands to reason that if I measure someone’s knee mobility, I am also getting information as to how their neck moves. My measurement at the knee may not be a one-to-one correlation with their neck, but I can make inferences due to their relationship to the person as a whole. The measurement at the knee is one element of possibility that the patient has available, and that test alone provides useful information about their entire organizational structure.

Assessing range of motion is a common test provided by a multitude of health care providers. Understanding that nothing moves in isolation should deter most from the idea that one joint is the cause of a problem. The test actually reveals possibility. A distilled interpretation of a very complex system.

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist