MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY

GLOSSARY OF COMMONLY USED

PHYSICAL THERAPY TERMS
 Accessory movement

Joint movements which cannot be performed

voluntarily or in isolation by the patient that
essential for normal ROM.
Example: upward rotation of scapula that
occur with shoulder flexion.
 Associated movement

Normal involuntary movement in one limb

accompanying a voluntary movement on the
other side of the body that not necessary for
performance of some function
Example : swinging of the arm
 Achilles tendinitis
Inflammation of the
Achilles tendon particularly
the peritendon. It may be
predisposed to this type
of condition because of
biomechanical, muscular,
training and footwear factors.
 Acromio-clavicular (AC) joint
Joint between the acromion
process of the scapula and
the clavicle.
 Active Range of Motion

when a person moves a body part on his

own without any help or support from the
therapist. This is as opposed to passive
range of motion when the part is moved by
the physiotherapist without any help from
the patient.
 Active assisted range of motion

movement of a body part assisted either by the

physiotherapist, or by the patient using another
limb to assist the weaker limb.
 Acupuncture and shaitsu
Acupuncture: practitioner
insert fine sterile needles
stimulate specific points
on the body which are
selected according to
traditional Chinese medicine
 Shiatsu
Shiatsu: is form of traditional
Japanese physical therapy.
It draw on traditional Chinese
medicine theory and uses the
same meridians and pressure
points as acupuncture
 Activities of Daily Living

Daily self-care activities like bathing,

dressing, toileting, feeding and meal
preparation. ADL retraining is usually the
domain of Occupational Therapy.
 Adductor tendinitis

Commonly occurring in athletes and horse riders

with localized pain over the tendinous origin of
adductor longus from the pubis or at its
musculotendinous junction.
 Anabolic steroids

Derivatives of the male sex hormone

testosterone and are used as performance
enhancing, to increase muscle bulk and
strength. Can be taken orally or as an
injectable.
 Analgesia
Pain relief which may be achieved by use of
medication (e.g. aspirin, paracetamol or
codeine), modalities (e.g. ultrasound,
interferential and laser or acupuncture).
 Ankle sprain

Usually an over stretch

of the lateral (outside)
ligament of the ankle
joint. Can be of varying
degrees, from minor over
stretch to complete rupture.
 Ankylosing spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that affect the
spine with unknown etiology
Start between teenage and twenty
The men are two to three times more likely to get disease than
female
Signs : pain and stiffness
bony fusion
pain in ligament and tendon
Ankylosing spondylitis
 Annulus fibrosis
The annulus fibrosis is tough
circular exterior of the intervertebral
disc that surround the soft inner core,
the nucleus pulposus .
The outer portion is composed
of a ring of ligament fibers that
encases the inner core of the disc
and secuerly connects the spinal
vertebrae above and below the disc
 Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
Intra-articular ligament of the knee,
attaching on the anterior portion
of the tibial plateau extending
upwards and posteriorly to
the medial aspect of the lateral femoral condyle.
Lachamen test is most useful and sensitive test for
ACL diagnosis
 Aphasia
Impairment of language, affecting the production or
comprehension of speech and the ability to read or
write. Aphasia is always due to injury to the brain –
most commonly from stroke, particularly in older
individuals. But brain injuries resulting aphasia may
also arise from head trauma, from brain tumors, or
from infections.
 Apprehension test
A test that places the joint
in a position that would
simulate subluxation or
dislocation, with the degree
of "positivity" being judged
by the level of "apprehension"
on the patient's face. it is used
to test integrity of joint
 Articular cartilage
Covers the ends of bones and
allows the distribution of
compressive loads over the
cross section of bones, as
well as providing a near
frictionless and wear resistant
for joint movement.
 Arthritis
Arthritis is an inflammation
of the joints. It can affect
one joint or multiple joints..
Two of the most common
types are osteoarthritis (OA)
and rheumatoid arthritis (RA
 Arthroscopy
Using an intra-articular camera to
assist, this less invasive procedure
allows the Orthopaedic Surgeon to
assess, repair or reconstruct various
tissues both within and around joints,
now used preferentially to "open"
procedures when permitted.
 Atrophy

Usually attributed to muscle, it is a shrinking in

size, usually following a period of disuse or
immobility.
 Avascular necrosis
Death of tissue due to complete
depletion of blood supply, commonly
seen with fractures of the femoral
neck, leading to death of the head
of the femur, may also be seen in
scaphoid and navicular fractures.
 Axon
An axon is a fiber rather like
a cable. It carries electrochemical
signals from the soma to other
neurons. The axon is surrounded
by a series of short, cylindrical
myelin sheaths along its length.
If the sheaths are damaged, the axon
cannot transmit signals properly.
This can lead to multiple sclerosis.
 Ataxia

Ataxia is neurological sign consisting of lack of

voluntary coordination of muscle movement
that can include gait abnormality, speech
change and abnormality in eye movement due
to dysfunction in parts of nervous system that
coordinate movement such as cerebellum
 Baker's cyst
A Baker's cyst is a fluid-filled cyst
that causes a bulge and a feeling of
tightness behind your knee. The
pain can get worse when you fully
flex or extend your knee or when
you're active
Bedsores (pressure ulcers - decubitus ulcers )

Injuries to skin and underlying tissue resulting from

prolonged pressure on the skin. Bedsores most often
develop on skin that covers bony areas of the body,
such as the heels, ankles, hips and tailbone. People
most at risk of bedsores are those with a medical
condition that limits their ability to change positions
or those who spend most of their time in a bed or
chair.
 Biofeedback
The use of instrumentation to
bring covert physiological
processes to the conscious
awareness of the individual,
usually by visual or auditory
signals.
 Body mass index (BMI)

The body mass divided by the square of the

body height, and is universally expressed in
units of kg/m2, resulting from mass in
kilograms and height in meters.
 Bone density

A description of bone mass and is diminished in

osteoporosis. Bone density has also been seen
to be diminished in hormone deficiency
syndromes, particularly oestrogen depletion.
 Bradykinesia

Bradykinesia describes slow movement or a

difficultly moving the body on demand.
Bradykinesia is most often caused by
Parkinson's disease, and may be related to
muscle weakness, rigid muscles, or tremor
 Bucket handle tear
A description given to a type
of tear of the meniscus of the
knee joint, usually medial.
The tear is one that extends
along the length of the meniscus,
within the body of the meniscus.
This tear allows for the internal
portion of the torn meniscus to
slip into the joint,a common cause
of a "locked" knee.
 Bursa
A fluid filled sac, usually located at areas of friction e.g.
between tendon and bone.
 Bursitis
Bursitis is an inflammation
of the bursa; tiny sacs containing
synovial fluid which is a liquid
that reduces the friction between
two structures during joint movement.
The most frequent locations of this
type of inflammation are at
the shoulder, hip and knee.
The principal causes impact directly
on an articulation and on the degenerative
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