Range of Motion exercises are not stretches – they are in fact ‘movements’.  Patterns of movement that keep our joint spaces open.  A full squat for example requires the knees to fully bend, hips to extend and the spine to flex.  If we don’t go into this range of motion often enough, our joints become unable to perform the movement with ease.   They are unused to moving across such a full arc of movement and so when they are required to do so, can become irritated and even broken if we do not have the correct support to enable the action.