Man Ther. 1996 Jun; 1(3): 118-126.

Peripheral mobilisations with movement.

Exelby L.

Physiotherapy Department, Lister Hospital, Stevenage, Herts, UK

SUMMARY. The use of mobilisations with movement (MWM) for peripheral joints has been developed by Mulligan. A mobilisation is applied parallel or at right angles to the restricted joint movement. If the applied mobilisation achieves immediate improvement in the functional movement and abolishes the pain the treatment involves sustaining the mobilisation while the patient performs the active movement repetitively. On reassessment of the joint function, the movement should remain improved without the mobilisation. Theories as to why these techniques provide rapid improvement in pain-free range are proposed, and the general principles of examination and treatment are outlined. Specific clinical examples demonstrate how MWM can be used in isolation or integrated with other manual approaches to improve the quality of joint intraarticular gliding, neurodynamics and the facilitation of correct muscle recruitment. Copyright 1996 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.