Range of motion (ROM) refers to the ability of a joint to move in a specific direction. Different joints have different functions of ROM. For example, flexion of the knee refers to your ability to fully bend your knee. Most injuries, such as those sustained in an accident, usually decrease at least some aspects of ROM.
Measuring ROM is very important to both evaluate how severe an injury is and to gauge the progress a patient attains after treatment. Documenting the severity of an injury is usually done by comparing a patient’s ROM to the ROM of a normal person who never sustained any injuries (for example, a normal person’s knee flexion, or ability to bend the knee, is 130 degrees, while an injured person might only be able to flex the knee to 100 degrees).
Progress is usually measured by comparing ROM from the first visit to ROM at a later visit (for example, when a patient first comes to us they can bend their knee to 100 degrees, but after a couple of months of physical therapy they can bend it to 120 degrees). Physical therapy (specifically, therapeutic exercises), has been proven to steadily increase ROM. Please note that almost every single report of Dr. Malakov includes the ROM of all injured areas. We currently perform ROM manually with a device called a goniometer. However, we plan on soon performing computerized ROM, which is even more precise.
