Range of motion (or ROM), is the distance (linear or angular) that a movable object may normally travel while properly attached to another. It is also called range of travel, particularly when talking about mechanical devices and in mechanical engineering fields. For example, a volume knob (a rotary fader) may have a 300° range of travel from the "off" or muted (fully attenuated) position at lower left, going clockwise to its maximum-loudness position at lower right.
As used in the biomedical and weightlifting communities, range of motion refers to the distance and direction a joint can move between the flexed position and the extended position. The act of attempting to increase this distance through therapeutic exercises (range of motion therapy—stretching from flexion to extension for physiological gain) is also sometimes called range of motion.
Read more about Range Of Motion: Measuring Range of Motion, Limited Range of Motion, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words range of, range and/or motion:
“Culture is the suggestion, from certain best thoughts, that a man has a range of affinities through which he can modulate the violence of any master-tones that have a droning preponderance in his scale, and succor him against himself. Culture redresses this imbalance, puts him among equals and superiors, revives the delicious sense of sympathy, and warns him of the dangers of solitude and repulsion.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“I still think I ought to leave Washington well alone. I have many friends in that city who can of their own motion speak confidently of my ways of thinking and acting. An authorized representative could remove some troubles that you now see, but only think of yet greater troubles he might create.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)