Neuro Flashcards
Motor Cortex Function
Movement
Frontal Lobe function
Judgement, foresight, and voluntary movement
Broca’s area function
motor aspect of speech production
Frontal Lobe function
smell
Temporal Lobe function
hearing
Occipital lobe function
primary visual area
Wernicke’s area function
Speech comprehension
Cerebellum function
coordination, balance
Sensory cortex function
pain, heat, and other sensations
5 segments of the spinal cord
- cervical (c1-8)
- Thoracic (T1-12)
- Lumbar ( L1-5)
- Sacral (S1-5)
- Coccygeal
Cauda Equina location
L1-2 -
nerve roots fan out
Motor root location
ventral (anterior)
Sensory root location
dorsal (posterior)
Sympathetic NS location and general function
Fight or Flight (T1-L3) - lateral gray of spinal cord
releases noradrenaline -
increases HR, RR, dilates pupils
Peripheral nerve amounts and locations
31 pairs
8 cervical
12 thoracic
5 lumbar
5 sacral
1 coccygeal
makeup of a spinal nerve
motor fiber (ventral) and sensory fiber (dorsal) merge to form the spinal nerve
Parasympathetic components
Basal metabolism
slows HR, RR, constricts pupils
Acetylcholine is the neuro T of the psns
Sympathetic System origin
Thoracic/Lumbar
Parasympathetic system origin
Brain/Sacral
Common concerning symptoms of the Nervous system
Headache
Dizziness or vertigo
Generalized, proximal, or distal weakness
Numbness
Abnormal or loss of sensations
Loss of consciousness, syncope, or near-syncope
Seizures
Tremors or involuntary movements
Detection of the three Ds
delirium, dementia, and depression
Health promotion- preventative awareness
Stroke and TIA prevention
Reduction of peripheral neuropathy
Neuro physical exam assessment questions
- Is the mental status intact?
- Are the right and left side findings the same? (symmetrical)
- If the findings are asymmetrical, or abnormal otherwise - are the causative lesions in the CNS or PNS?
***! - ALWAYS ASK IF AN ASYMMETRY IS NORMAL FOR THE PT.
Organize thinking into five nervous system related categories
- mental status
- speech and language
- cranial nerves
- motor and sensory system
- reflexes
Mental Status ROS
Level of consciousness
Speech
Orientation
Current events knowledge
Judgment
Vocabulary
Abstraction
Memory-immediate recall, recent and remote
Language-fluency, comprehension, repetition, naming, reading, writing
Calculation
Object recognition
Emotional responses
Praxis
Mood and affect
Higher intellectual function-knowledge, abstraction, judgment, insight, reasoning
Aphasia
loss of speech comprehension
Dysarthria
difficulty controlling the muscles used for speech
(Disorder of speech)
Speech requires formulation of articulation and pronunciation. This involves the bulbar muscles and the physical ability to form words.
Manifests as slurred, slow speech
Dysphonia
difficulty in speaking from a physical disorder of the mouth, throat, tongue, or vocal cords
(disorder of speech, phonation difficulties, hoarsness)
Speech exam
Recite a short phrase for Pt. to repeat
ex. No ifs ands or buts
Dysphagia
Disorder of language, difficulty in comprehending or speaking as a result of cerebral dysfunction
Language Processes
Semantics - selection of words to be spoken
Syntax - formulation of appropriate sentence phrases
Orientation components
Person, time, place and situation
Judgement Assessment
(Simple question that the answer is obvious)
What would you do id you saw someone being attacked?
Abstraction assessment
Ask patient to interpret:
How is an apple and an orange alike?
Vocabulary assessment
Varies based on education level and diversity.
Ask something like, What do you use a pen for?
and should be asked in order of increasing difficulty like: car, ability, dominant, voluntary, telescope
Emotional assessment q’s
Any mood changes?
How are your spirits?
Are you depressed?
[Response-appropriate, abnormal, or flat]
Mini mental state exam categories
- Orientation
(year, day month, where they are) - Registration
(name three objects. ask patient to repeat them- repeat until they learn them all) - Attention and calculation
(serial 7s, spell a word backwards - Recall
(ask for the 3 items from before) - Language
(name pencil and watch
Repeat “No ifs ands or buts”
Follow a 3 stage command - take this paper in your hand, fold it in half, and out it on the floor
Read and obey “CLOSE YOUR EYES”
Write a sentence
Copy the design shown
Cerebellar Function- assessment tests
Gait
Finger-to-nose assessment
Heel-to-shin
Rapid alternating movements(RAM)
Romberg
Gait-definition and assessment procedure
The manner of walking or running.
Walk straight ahead and then return on tiptoes and then walk on heels then tandem walk one foot touching the toes of the other.
Posture, balance and arm swing.
Hop on one foot.
Gait Disturbance
Ataxic
Choreiform
Diplegic
Hemiplegic
Myopathic
Neuropathic
NPH
Parkinson
Trendelenburg
Ataxic gait
An unsteady, staggering gait is described as an ataxic gait because walking is uncoordinated.
Usually multifactorial
Increases with age and most are due to sensory deficits.
Choreiform (Hyperkinetic)
Involuntary movements that are superimposed on gait without balance difficulties.
Usually due to Huntington’s chorea.
Diplegic (Scissor)
Patients have involvement on both sides with spasticity in lower extremities worse than upper extremities.
Cerebral Palsy
Hemiplegic
Gait in which the leg is stiff, without flexion at knee and ankle, and with each step is rotated away from the body, then towards it, forming a semicircle.
Causes-CVA, CP, Parkinson
Myopathic (Waddle)
A particular way or manner of moving on foot: a person who ran with a clumsy, hobbling gait. No weight bearing on the affected side.
Seen in myopathies
Neuropathic (Steppage)
Steppage gait is a form of gait abnormality characterized by foot drop due to loss of dorsiflexion.
The foot hangs with the toes pointing down, causing the toes to scrape the ground while walking, requiring someone to lift the leg higher than normal when walking.
Neuropathies
Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
Gait caused by Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
3W’s
Wet -Incontinent
Wobbly-Gait unsteady
Wacky-Demented
Parkinson’s Gait
Slow shuffling gait (festinating)
Stuck to the floor (freezing)
Decreased to absent arm swing
Trendelenberg Gait
Abnormal gait associated with a weakness of the gluteus med.
It is characterized by the dropping of the pelvis on the unaffected side of the body at the moment of heel strike on the affected side.
In this deviation the pelvic drop during the walking cycle lasts until heel strike on the unaffected side and is accompanied by an apparent lateral protrusion of the affected hip.
The person also shortens the step on the unaffected side and displays a lateral deviation of the entire trunk and the affected side during the stance phase of the affected lower limb.
This gait is one of the more common gait deviations.
Finger to nose
Rapidly points finger to nose and then to examiners finger, move smoothly and assess quickness. Switch hands and repeat.