Neuro Terminology Flashcards
Allodynia
Non-noxious stimulus produces pain
Analgesia
Loss of pain sensitivity (inability to feel pain)
Do NOT get confused with analgesic - means it helps relieve pain
Causalgia
Burning painful sensation, often along nerve distruptions
Dysesthesia
Touch sensation produces pain
Hyperalgesia
Heightened sensitivity to (pain) noxious stimuli
Noxious thresholds to stimulate are dropping
Hyperasthesia
Heightened sensitivity to sensory stimulus
Hypoalgesia
Decreased sensitivity to pain
Paresthesia
Abnormal sensation with no apparent cause (eg. numbness, tingling)
Paresis
Muscle weakness
Tone
Definition & Abnormalities
Resistance of muscles to passive elongation while the individual is attempting to stay relaxed (residual contraction at rest)
Hypertonia: INC tonicity (above resting levels)
- Spasticiity
- Rigidity
Hypertonia: DEC tonicity (below normal resting levels)
Dystonia: disordered tonicity = contractions can cause twisting or withering mvmts &/or abnormal posturing
Spasiticity
Definition & Types
Velocity DEPENDENT resistance to passive elongation
INC stretch = INC resistance
CLASP-KNIFE RESPONSE - spastic catch followed by sudden inhibition (letting go) in response to a passive elongation of a muscle
Rigidity
Definition & Types
Velocity INDEPENDENT hypertonic state of muscle
LEADPIPE Rigidity: Constant uniform resistance throughout entire range of motion
COGWHEEL Rigidity: Hypertonic state with rachet-like jerkiness during muscle elongation
Dystonia
Definition & Types
A movement disorder that is characterized by involuntary twisting and repetitive mvmts, abnormal fixed postures, and disordered tone
Dystonic posturing: co-contaction of muscles causing a sustained abnormal posture
Generalized: start to develop dystonic postures/mvmts - normally starts in legs & moves up
Focal (only one body part): ex. torticollis
Segmental (affects two or more adjacent areas): ex torticollis + UE
Postural Control
The ability to maintain stability and orientation (with the COM over the BOS)
Postural Orientation
The ability to maintain appropraite control of body segments in relation to each other and gravity
Balance
Ability to maintain COM within the BOS. All forces acting on the body must be balanced in order to maintain balance
Center of Mass
An imaginary balancing point representing the average position of all the parts of the system according to their masses. Aslo known as Center of Gravity (CoG)
Naval - COM on a human
** COM does not have to be inside someone’s body - can lay outside
Base of Support
The area of the body or an extension of the body in contact witha support surface (ie chair or assistive device)
Limits of Stability (LOS)
The maximum distance that one can lean to without losing balance or having to change the BOS
COM in relation to that imaginary line
Apraxia
Motor planning.
The loss of ability to execute or carry out skilled movement and gestures, despite having the physical ability and desire to perform them
Visual Agnosia
An impairment in recognizing visually presented objects &/or ppl, despite otherwise normal visual field, acuity, color vision, brightness discrimination, language, and memory. Patients can recognize objects using other sensory modalities
Prosopagnosia
Prosopagnosia (also known as face blindness or facial agnosia) is a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces.
Dysarthria
Motor speech disorder affecting the mm used to produce speech
- Speech may be slow, and/or slurred and can be difficult to understand
Aphasia
Impairment of language (speech or written) affecting comprehension &/or production
Receptive -> fluent -> Wernicke’s aphasia
Expressive -> Broca’s aphasia
Global aphasia
Receptive Aphasia
Difficulty with comprehension of lanuage
- Speech flows smoothly & meldoy of speech is preserved
- Fluent aphasia or Wernicke’s aphasia
Expressive Aphasia
Diffulty with the production of speech
- Flow is slow & hestiant, limited vocabulary (content words), and impaired syntax (agrammatism)
Comprehension is not affected
Global Aphasia
Diffculty with language comprehension and production
- Indictative of extensive brain damage
- Limited the pt’s ability to learn, t/f affects the outcomes of rehab
Dysphagia
Definition & Complications
Difficulty swallowing
- Aspiration occurs in 1/3 of pt w/ dysphagia -> lead to respiratory distress, aspiration pneumonia, and possibly even death
- If severe, Nothing-per-oral (NPO) prescautions / liquid orders are given = tube feeding
- Dysphagia is associated with dehydration and poor nutritional status
Cogntive Dysfunction: Memory
Impairment in alertness, orientation, attention, memory, or executive functions
Memory
- Short-term memory may be affected, long term memory unaffected
- Memory gaps may be filled with made-up stories or inappropriate words (confabulation)
Cognitive Dysfunction: Perseveration
Impairment in alertness, orientation, attention, memory, or executive functions
Perseveration:
- Persistent repetition of words, thoughts, or gestures w/o appropriate context
- Pt gets “stuck” & repeats words or acts
* PT: Give the pt limits to stop OR assign a time in the day to think/do repeated actions
Often seen in stroke and autism
Pseudobulbar Affect
Sudden & unpredictable outburts of crying, laughing, or other emotional displays not consistent with mood
- Quickly changes from one extreme to another
- Also known as emotional liability or emotional dysregulation syndrome
Apathy
Blunted emotional response
- May be mislabeled as depressed or having poor motivation - Do NOT give up on patient or DEC lvl of care
Euphoria
Exaggerated feelings of well-being and happiness that are not consistent w/ the context
Depression
Definition and Affects
Persistent feelings of sadness
* PSEUDOMOTOR SLOWING - motor changes due to depressed state (not directly d/t stoke)
LT hemisphere lesions may experience more frequent and severe depression
- Not only a result of their physical impairments - must have something to do with the LT side of the brain
Anosognosia
Anosognosia is a neurological condition in which the patient is unaware of their neurological deficit or psychiatric condition.
It is associated with mental illness, dementia, and structural brain lesion, as is seen in right hemisphere stroke patients
Somatagnosia
Asomatognosia is a neurological disorder characterized as loss of recognition or awareness of part of the body.
- Not able to recognize body parts & relationships with each other & spatial relationships of those body parts
- TEST: Take a doll & ask them to assemble it - usually put limbs/head in wrong spot
Spatial Relations Syndromes
Difficulty perceiving relationships between self and objects in space. Inability to recognize vertical, horizontal, depth, and distance
Agnosia
Inability to intrepret sensory information (despite intact sensations). This results in an impairment in recognition
- Visual agnosia - use less visual clues, less clutter, good lighting
- Auditory agnosia - more visual/tactile cues, limit nosiy environments
- Tactile agnosia (astereognosis)
- No issues with the structure responsible for the sense JUST cannot recognize it
Apraxia
A motor disorder causing difficulty planning and peforming tasks or purposeful movements
- No primary motor impairments
- More evident with LEFT hemipshere damage
What hemisphere lesion is more likely to experience apraxia?
LEFT hemisphere
IDEATIONAL Apraxia
Inability to produce purposeful movement on command or automatically
- No idea how to do the movement (cannot conceptualize or plan)
IDEOMOTOR Apraxia
Inability to produce purposeful movement on command, but is able to perform movement automatically
- can perform habitual tasks when not asked to do so, but cannot perform if asked to do so
- often perseverates
Stupor
Almost unresponsive state. Can be aroused briefly with vigorous, repeated stimulation
Obtuned
Decreased alertness. Sleeps often
Anomia
Difficulty remembering names, proper nouns, or other abstract nouns
Anterograde Amnesia
Not remembering anything from the injury forward
- Likely to remember information prior to the insult/injury (ie recognize family/friends
Retrograde Amnesia
Not remembering events prior to injury
- May initially be very long, but may partially resolve. May never remember events leading up to injury
Post-traumatic Amnesia
The time between the injury and when the patient is able to recall recent events
Asthenia
Generalized muscle weakness commonly found in cerebellar lesions
Paroxysmal
A fit, attack, or sudden increase or recurrence of symptoms (as of a disease)
Dysuria
Painful or difficult urination
Dyskinesia
Dyskinesias are involuntary, erratic, writhing movements of the face, arms, legs or trunk. They are often fluid and dance-like, but they may also cause rapid jerking or slow and extended muscle spasms.
