[The range of joint motions of the extremities in healthy Japanese people--the difference according to the age (author's transl)].

The passive range of motion was measured in the shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, hip, knee and ankle joints in 624 healthy Japanese persons ranging from the neonatal to 80 years of age, by the method formally decided by the Japanese Orthopaedic Association and the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine in 1974, followed by a statistical analysis. 1. The joint motions, the range of motion value of which being remarkably different by age, were found among the movements in external rotation and horizontal abduction of the shoulder, extension, abduction, adduction, external rotation, internal rotation of the hip and dorsiflexion of the ankle. 2. Elbow flexion, forearm pronation and supination, wrist dorsiflexion and knee flexion showed little change by age. 3. Extension, external rotation and horizontal abduction of the shoulder, dorsiflexion of the wrist, flexion of the hip, flexion of the knee and dorsiflexion and plantar flexion of the ankle gave values exceeding the normal range indicated by the associations. 4. The fluctuation in the range of joint motion was especially wide in the infant and the aged person.