An occupational therapy (OT) practitioner is testing a client's wrist flexion strength. The client is able to flex the wrist to 50 degrees against gravity. What should the therapist do next in the as-sessment?

A. Apply resistance.
B. Reposition the client to test in the gravity-minimized plane.
C. Assist the client into full wrist flexion and then apply resistance.
D. Flex the wrist passively to assess available range of motion.

ANS: D
It is necessary for the OT practitioner to know the client's available range of motion (ROM) be-fore grading muscle strength. The therapist cannot assume that the 50 degrees of flexion repre-sents full available ROM, so applying resistance is premature and may result in inaccurate grading of strength. The therapist also cannot assume that the 50 degrees of flexion does not represent full available ROM because there could be a joint limitation, so testing in a gravity-minimized plane may result in inaccurate grading of strength. The client should not be assisted into a testing position because this will result in inaccurate muscle grading.