Importance of Passive Movements

I'm currently on my cardio placement and in the ward that i'm on there is a high dependency unit, which is mainly used as a step down from ICU or for patients who are ventilated. One of the patients there is a 37 year old man who has motor neuron disease. He was diagnosed only 18 months ago but it has very rapidly progressed. He is now completely chair/bed bound, a full hoist transfer, and has had a permanent nasogastric tube inserted as he has pretty much lost his swallowing. I was asked to see him by my superviser for some upper and lower limb passive movements and muscle stretches.

As I am on my cardio prac I thought that doing passive movements and muscle stretches is a little bit of a waste of time, but of course I will do what i'm told! The patient has lost a lot of his ability to project and articulate words and as a result is very difficult to understand. From the conversation I was able to have with him and his family he had told me how much the passive movements and muscle stretches actually do make a difference to him. He had said that they really do make him so much more comfortable and he feels so much better after having them done. As he has been told that he only has 6-8 weeks to live, he was extremely grateful for us taking the time out to do this for him.

This experience has just shown that something that we find a little tedious and somewhat unneccessary can actually make a really big difference to someones life. So even though we dont think we're doing much, a patient is very appreciative of it as it may do a lot to increase their comfort and, in this case, his quality of life for the time he has left. This has definately given me a different perspective to doing simple passive movements as a treatment.