The Yamanaka-Spa Medical Center' s convalescent ward plays an important role in improving aged patient' s disuse atrophy and helping them to be able to live at home or at senior health care institutions. The management of nursing services is more problematic at the Yamanaka-Spa Medical Center than the treatment of diseases themselves. To resolve these current problems, the Center introduced a “critical pathway to improve contractions” and investigated its usefulness by treating six long-term bedridden patients based on the pathway for one month. As a result, neck contraction and hip joint contraction of all patients improved during this month and all patients became able to sit up at least for one hour. This proves that critical pathways are not only effective in reducing nursing problems at wards for acute stage patients but also at those for chronic stage patients.