Execution
- 1Position the patient sitting with the arm exposed and compare both elbows.
- 2Ask the patient to actively flex and extend the elbow, testing the most painful direction last.
- 3Ask the patient to supinate and pronate the forearm while preventing shoulder adduction or abduction substitution.
- 4Observe range, pain, quality of movement, guarding, swelling-related limitation, and side-to-side difference.
- 5Add combined, repeated, sustained, or loaded movements only when the history suggests those positions reproduce symptoms.
Positive outcome
Abnormal findings: pain, loss of range, substitution, guarding, or side-to-side asymmetry.
Expected range- Flexion 140°–150°
- Extension 0° (hyperextension up to 10°)
- Supination ~90°
- Pronation 80°–90°
Loss of extension is a sensitive sign of intra-articular elbow pathology. Loss of terminal flexion is more functionally limiting for daily tasks.
CommentMagee frames AROM as the first movement screen in the elbow examination, not as a diagnostic test for a single pathology. Wrist and finger position can influence elbow symptoms because the long wrist flexors and extensors cross the region. Use AROM to identify the comparable sign before passive movement, resisted isometrics, or special tests.
Low Clinical Value