Okuzeka
Physiotherapy vocabulary · Movement and Range of Motion

Passive range of motion

Meaning in physiotherapy, with examples

nounCommon term

In physiotherapy, passive range of motion means: How far a joint can move when someone else, usually the physiotherapist, moves it while the patient's muscles stay relaxed.

In Turkish: pasif eklem hareket açıklığı, pasif EHA

How it is used

Written PROM in notes. It shows how much movement the joint and soft tissues allow, whatever the muscle strength. Physiotherapists feel the end feel while testing it, and use passive range of motion exercises with patients who cannot move a limb themselves, for example after a stroke or in intensive care.

Example sentences

  1. Relax your arm and let me move it. I'm checking your passive range of motion.

  2. Passive range of motion exercises help to stop the paralysed arm from getting stiff.

Common collocations

  • passive range of motion exercises
  • full passive range
  • test passive range
  • passive movement
  • active range of motionHow far a joint can move when the patient moves it with their own muscles, without any help.
  • end feelThe quality of resistance the physiotherapist feels at the very end of a joint's passive movement, described as hard, firm, soft or empty.
  • range of motionHow far a joint can move in each direction, usually measured in degrees from a starting position.
  • stiffnessA feeling that a joint or muscle is tight and hard to move, often worse after rest or first thing in the morning.

More terms: Movement and Range of Motion

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