Joint mobilization is a manual therapy intervention which comprises a continuum type of skilled passive movements to the skeletal joint. It is usually aimed at a 'target' synovial joint with the aim of achieving a therapeutic effect.

When joints become dysfunctional as a result of trauma, overused or disused, they are unable to perform the basic movements for which they were designed.

Joint mobilisation is helpful in cases where pain and joint tightness limit motion, as in the case of adhesive capsulitis or frozen shoulder. Joints of the elbow, wrist and hand, where tightness is present also benefit from this technique.

It is also used to relieve low back pain and re-establish accessory motion in the lumbar segments. Joint mobilisation techniques focus on attaining a normal range of pain-free joint motion, reduce the pain, to relax the capsule of the joint and to move synovial fluid (the principal role of synovial fluid is to reduce friction between the articular cartilage of synovial joints during movement).