370 chapter 42
RANGE-OF-MOTION (ROM) EXERCISES
What are they?
Range-of-motion exercises are regularly repeated
exercises that straighten or bend one or more joints
of the body and move them in all the directions
that a joint normally moves.
Why?
The main purpose of these exercises is to keep
the joints flexible. They can help prevent joint
stiffness, contractures, and deformities.
Range-of-motion exercises are especially
important for prevention of joint contractures.
This danger is greatest when paralysis or
spasticity causes ‘muscle imbalance’— which
means the muscles that pull a joint one way are
much stronger than those that should pull it the
other way, so that the joint is continuously kept
bent or kept straight (see p. 78).
Who should do them?
Range-of-motion exercises are important for:
CP
• babies born with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, club feet, or other conditions that
may lead to gradually increasing deformities.
• persons who are so sick, weak, or badly injured that they cannot get out of bed or
move their bodies very much.
• persons who have an illness or injury causing damage to the brain or spinal cord,
including:
• polio (during and following the original illness)
• meningitis or encephalitis (infections of the brain)
• spinal cord injury
• stroke (paralysis from bleeding or blood clot in the brain, mostly in older adults,
see Where There Is No Doctor, p. 327)
• children with parts of their bodies paralyzed from polio, injury, or other causes,
especially when there is muscle imbalance, with risk of contractures.
• children with progressive nerve or muscle disease, including muscular dystrophy
and leprosy.
• children who have lost part of a limb (amputation).
How often?
ROM exercises should usually be done at least 2
times a day. If some joint motion has already been
lost and you are trying to get it back, do the exercises
more often, and for longer each time.
at least twice a day
Disabled village Children