Test Positioning: BioM

Not all bodies are created equal, this is one of the many things I learned in my anatomy lab. The textbook may say something should be in a specific location, but that is not always the case when dealing with a plethora of human bodies. You can however rely on the probability that most everything is connected the same. Like the ulna and radius being side by side, odds are you aren't going to met someone with a femur in the arm and a fibula in their forearm. Bony landmarks are highly useful when measuring range of motion because it's going to be there, it is something most every human body will have and it will likely be in the same position for everyone. It's a solid general reference site to find. We may not all speak the same language but our bodies are the same. Sort of like math, it's the same world wide no matter where you are 2 plus 2 will still equal 4. So no matter who's body you are palpating the lateral epicondyle of the humerus will still be on the outside portion of the elbow. Using the same landmarks help improve goniometer accuracy when measuring range of motion since it will be the same placement for each client. From a client's perspective, it would be reassuring that if a different professional needed to take their measurement that the process was the same. This helps improve reliability in the measurement and simply reassure the client since the process will be the same as before.

Manual Muscle Testing positions are important because you want to maximize the cross bridges forming within the muscle. You want to give the client the best possible chance to end up successful. Some clients could be double jointed in their elbow making it harder to flex from a fully extended position which isn't fair compared to someone not double jointed. We aim for a mid range position so that there are not too few cross bridges or too many cross bridges since the majority of the human body levers are already set up at a mechanical disadvantage. Gravity itself is a form of resistance. For those that are recovering from a traumatic experience, their bodies may not be ready for the 9.8 meters per second squared (that's the force of gravity for my nerds), so we have to take gravity away by placing the client in a way so the action will be performed parallel to the ground. The client is starting back at square 1 so eliminating gravity and slowly adding in resistance is the better route to build them up to where they once were or at least close to it as best we can.