ArticleCritical care explorations2023
Passive Movements Do not Appear to Prevent or Reduce Joint Stiffness in Medium to Long-Stay ICU Patients: A Randomized, Controlled, Within-Participant Trial.
Article in Critical care explorations, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Incidence and Associated Factors for Chronic Pain After ICU Discharge: A Prospective Study.Nursing in critical care · 2026Article
- ASSOBRAFIR clinical practice guidelines in intensive care physical therapy: Rehabilitation strategies in critically ill adults.Brazilian journal of physical therapy · 2026Review
- Rehabilitating the diaphragm: an integrated approach to intensive care unit-acquired dysfunction in critical illness-a narrative review.Acute and critical care · 2026Article
- Continuous passive motion for prevention of ankle contracture and muscle loss in mechanically ventilated ICU patients.BMC research notes · 2025Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesICU patients have an increased risk of joint stiffness because of their critical illness and reduced mobility. There is a paucity of evidence evaluating the efficacy of passive movements (PMs). We investigated whether PMs prevent or reduce joint stiffness in ICU patients.
designA randomized, controlled, within-participant, assessor-blinded study.
settingA 48-bed tertiary care adult ICU. PATIENTS: Intubated patients who were expected to be invasively mechanically ventilated for greater than 48 hours with an ICU length of stay greater than or equal to 5 days, and unable to voluntarily move their limbs through full range of motion (ROM).
interventionsThe ankle and elbow on one side of each participant's body received PMs (10 min each joint, morning and afternoon, 5 d/wk). The other side acted as the control. The PMs intervention continued for as long as clinically indicated to a maximum of 4 weeks. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was ankle dorsiflexion ROM at cessation of PMs. Plantarflexion, elbow flexion and extension ROM, and participant-reported joint pain and stiffness (verbal analog scale [VAS]) were also measured. Outcomes were recorded at baseline and cessation of PMs. For participants whose PMs intervention ceased early due to recovery, additional post-early-cessation of PMs review measurements were undertaken as near as possible to 4 weeks. MAIN
resultsWe analyzed data from 25 participants with a median (interquartile range) ICU stay of 15.6 days (11.3-25.4). The mean (95% CI) between-side difference for dorsiflexion ROM (with knee extension) at cessation of PMs was 0.4 degrees (-4.4 to 5.2;
conclusionsPMs, as provided to this sample of medium to long-stay ICU patients, did not prevent or reduce joint stiffness.
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