Normal Range of Joint Movements in Shoulder, Hip, Wrist and Thumb with Special Reference to Side: a Comparison between Two Populations

Abstract

The data which are usually quoted on normal ranges of joint mobility are not based on information from population surveys. In order to remedy this, we obtained sex and side-standardized measurements in two populations, one in Sweden and one in Iceland. These populations included 517 females and 203 males with an age span of 33 to 70 years. Special instruments were built and shown to measure reliably well-defined parts of movement in the shoulders, wrist, metacarpophalangeal joint I (MCP I), and hip. Mobility of joints was found to be influenced by age, sex and side. Females had greater joint mobility than males. These differences might be explained by initial biological variation, differences in pain threshold and the cumulative damage caused by micro and macro traumata. The MCP I joint showed the greatest biological variation and was not subject to the same reduction of mobility with age as the other three joints. Some ethnic differences were found in wrist mobility but these await further investigation.