Test Positioning

It is important to know to use bony landmarks and proper positioning when doing ROM because you have to know how to set up your goniometer. You need to know where to position the axis, stable arm, and moving arm. Measuring ROM accurately requires precision, and precision is achieved through a lot a practice. You need to make sure you know how to palpate bony landmarks to have complete accuracy when measuring. It is important apply the goniometer in the proper position and read it correctly so that you can measure progress accurately. If another therapist has to measure the client, you want the measurements to be close to the ones you did. Test positioning in manual muscle testing is equally as important if you want to get the correct measurement for your client. The test position allows the muscle to be in a position to achieve the greatest contraction. You want whatever limb that is being tested in the best possible position to achieve a great mechanical advantage. It is important that the lever is in the best position for muscle strength. It is good to test muscle strength in an antigravity position. If the muscles are too weak to function against gravity, then it needs to be tested in the horizontal plane. It is also good to test in a gravity eliminated position when the muscle is weak so the therapist can feel any level of contraction in the muscle. Test positioning is also important for providing good stabilization to all joints to avoid unnecessary compensation. Muscle compensation could cause more damage.