Test Positoning: Range of Motion and Manual Muscle Testing

It is extremely important to use bony landmarks as "reference points." This way when you are going from patient to patient, you can orient yourself on each one accurately. It is also very important to palpate bony landmarks to include proper positioning of your goniometer. You want to make sure your axis, stationery arm, and moveable arm are in the correct placements to ensure you are getting the right data for the right muscle action. If the goniometer is placed incorrectly, the ROM measurements will not give the right numbers. The purpose of the "test position" in Manual Muscle Testing is to that the client is placed in the right plane and body position for the muscle/joint to have optimal muscle contraction. The relevance of the gravity eliminated position is extremely important to client's who do not have full range of motion in a muscle or joint. This position should always be parallel to the ground. The client should still be in a body position or plane that enables optimal muscle contraction. We want to see the client do as much as he/she can. This gives us a good look at what the client can do and data that shows speficic numbers we want them to get to.