Background: Critically ill patients often develop muscle weakness which is unrelated to the 
primary pathology for ICU admission. This weakness may progress to a clinical syndrome known 
as acquired weakness. Aim: to evaluate the effect of passive muscle exercises on acquired muscle 
weakness among critically ill patients. Design: A quasi-experimental study. Setting: This study 
was conducted at Surgical Intensive Care Unit in Emergency Hospital of Tanta University 
Hospitals affiliated to Tanta University Hospitals. Subjects: A purposive sample of 60 adult 
patients. Tools: two tools were used: Tool I: Critically ill Patient Assessment, tool II: Manual 
Muscle Strength Test. Results: there was statistical significant differences related respiratory rate 
and saturation of peripheral oxygen (spo2) among the study and control group where P=<0.05 
respectively. Statistically significant difference was found between the control and the study 
group regarding score of manual muscle strength at the end of the second week where p =0.002. 
Conclusion: It can be concluded that there was high statistically significant improvement in 
muscle weakness among critically ill patients in intervention group. Recommendations: 
Replication of the current study on larger sample at different setting. Critical care nurses should 
be provided with an educational program about AMW causes, clinical criteria and methods of 
prevention