Joint Position This should be checked carefully and it may be done in various ways: The patient may have the movements of a joint named for him –e.g. ‘this is called bending the elbow and this is stretching’. Then the joint may be put through a passive range of movement while the eyes are closed and the patient asked to state whether bending or stretching is occurring.
When moving the joint passively the physiotherapist must not indicate change of direction by moving her hands as the patient could otherwise detect discrepancies in direction because of this and give a false impression of his ability. If the patient is sufficiently co-ordinating he could be asked to keep his eyes closed and to move a free limb into the same relative position as a limb being moved by the physiotherapist. His limb and trunk could be positioned by the physiotherapist and the patient could be asked to draw a…
