Hip range of motion norms

Stabilisation is the whole technique. For abduction, one hand on the opposite ASIS tells you the instant the pelvis joins in — that is the end of the range, whatever the leg does next.

For extension, prone with a hand across the sacrum. For rotation, prone with the knee at ninety degrees is repeatable and comfortable; seated rotation reads differently and the two should not be mixed within one episode.

Hip flexion measured with the knee straight is a hamstring test wearing a hip test’s name. Bend the knee.

Loss of internal rotation with a hard, capsular end-feel is the classic early osteoarthritic hip and it often predates radiographic change and pain. Loss of extension is more often soft tissue and posture, and it shows up as a compensatory lumbar pattern long before the patient complains about the hip.

A capsular pattern — internal rotation limited most, then flexion, then abduction — is worth naming in the note when you see it, because it changes both the prognosis and the referral question.

Hip ranges respond slowly. Re-measuring every visit produces noise; re-measuring at the certified interval produces signal. Put the re-measurement date in the plan of care rather than doing it on impulse.

Pair the range with a function the patient names — putting socks on, getting out of a low car — because a ten-degree gain that changes neither is not yet a result.

Related: the full ROM chart, the lumbar norms, the plan of care builder.

Empirical adult values by age and sex: Soucie JM et al. Range of motion measurements: reference values and a database for comparison studies. Haemophilia. 2011;17(3):500-507 — the CDC-funded normal joint ROM study, which measured healthy subjects by age and sex.