Key Terms Flashcards
Agnosia
Loss of sensory comprehension, including facial recognition
Anomia
An inability to find words
Aphasia
Problems with speech (expressive aphasia) and/or language (receptive aphasia)
Apraxia
Inability to use words or objects correctly
Autonomic Dysreflexia
A potentially life-threatening condition in which noxious visceral or cutaneous stimuli cause a suffer, massive, uninhibited reflex sympathetic discharge in people with high-level spinal cord injury
Babinski Sign
Dorsiflexion of the great toe and fanning of the other toes that is abnormal in anyone older than 2 years and represents the presence of central nervous system disease
Bell Palsy
A peripheral nervous system disorder in which the patient has paralysis of all facial muscles on the affected side. The patient cannot close. his or her eye wrinkle the forehead, smile, whistle or grimace. Tearing may stop or become excessive. The face appears mask like and sags.
Bradykinesia (akinesia)
Slow movement/no movement
Cerebral Angiography (arteriography)
Clonus
Rhythmic jerking of all extremities during a seizure
Cough Assist
A technique in which an assistant places his or her hands on the patient’s upper abdomen over the diaphragm and below the ribs. Hands are placed one over the other, with fingers interlocked and away from the skin while the patient take a breath and coughs during expiration. The assistant locks his or her elbows and pushes inward and upward as the patient coughs.
Decortication (Decorticate posturing)
Abnormal motor movement seen in the patient with lesions that interrupt the corticospinal pathway
Decerebration (Decerebrate posturing)
Abnormal movement with rigidity characterized by extension of the arms and legs, pronation of the arms, plantar flexion, and opisthotonos (body spasm in which the body is bowed forward)
Dyskinesia
The inability to perform voluntary movement
Dysphagia
Difficulty swallowing
Electroencephalography (EEG)
A diagnostic test that records the electrical activity of the cerebral hemispheres of the brain. The frequency, amplitude, and characteristics of the brain waves are recorded
Electromyography (EMG)
A diagnostic test used to identify nerve and muscle disorders, such as myasthenia graves, as well as spinal cord disease
Ergonomics
An applied science in which the workplace is designed to increase worker comfort (reducing injury) while increasing efficiency and productivity
Glasgow Coma Scale
A tool used in many acute care settings to establish baseline data in each of these areas; eye opening, motor response and verbal response. The patient is assigned a numeric score for each of these areas. The lower the score, the lower the patient’s neurologic function
Heterotopic Ossification
Bony overgrowth, often into muscle; a complication of immobility
Hyperesthesia
Increased sensory perception
Hypoesthesia
Decreased sensory perception
Level of Consciousness (LOC)
The degree of alertness or amount of stimulation needed to engage a patient’s attention and can range from alert to comatose
Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
A noninvasive imaging technique used to measure the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain via extremely sensitive devices such as superconducting quantum interference devices
Myasthenia Gravis
A rare progressive autoimmune disease characterized by muscle weakness as a result of impaired acetylcholine receptors
Paraparesis
Weakness that affects only the lower extremities as seen in lower thoracic and lumbosacral injuries or lesions
Paraplegia
Paralysis that affects only the lower extremities, as seen in lower thoracic and lumbosacral injuries or lesions
Parkinson’s Disease
A progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects mobility and is characterized by four cardinal symptoms tremor, muscle rigidity, bradykinesia/akinesia, and postural instability
PERRLA
Pupils should be Equal in size, Round and Regular in shape and react to Light and Accommodation
Phonophobia
A sensitivity to sound
Photophobia
A sensitivity to light
Proprioception
Awareness of body position
Quadriparesis
Weakness involving all four extremities, as seen in cervical cord and upper thoracic injury
Radiculopathy
Spinal verve root involvement