Passive movement means someone or something else moving your limbs, hands through their available range of motion. Or you can do it yourself with the “good hand.” So you’re not doing any work with the affected area, an external force is doing the movement for you. A therapist will write this as PROM(passive range of motion). There are studies that say that PROM after a stroke can induce changes in the brain. So if you lost a movement, that movement should be accomplished passively until you can do it yourself again. I didn’t lose any movements after my stroke, they were just extremely uncoordinated and shaky. So I never had to have any PROM done, but most people will. I had a really rare stroke, but most strokes will result in the loss of movements. PROM will also help to keep the muscles at the appropriate length and not allow a contracture to form around the joint. A contracture is a permanent shortening of the muscles around a joint. So if you can’t straighten out your elbow the whole way, the muscle may not be long enough and a contracture may have formed. As soon as you can do the movement by yourself though do it. A lot. Read this And this And this
Categories: Rehab, Stroke stuff
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