Introduction | Who is who | What is it? | What to do? | Plexus repair | Secondary surgery | Physiotherapy | Late aspects | Centers | Related events | Links | Glossary

Glossary

(With kind permission of www.ubpn.org)

ABDUCTION: Movement of the limbs toward the lateral plane or away from the body. Example: Lifting the arm out to the side.

ADDUCTION: Movement of the limbs toward the medial plane of the body or toward the axial line of the limb. Example: Bringing the arm close to the body from the side.

ANTERIOR: Toward the front or in front of.

ATROPHY: A wasting away, in the size of a cell, tissue, organ or part. (When muscles are not innervated, they atrophy.)

AVULSION: Tearing away. The nerve root has been torn out of the spinal cord.

BICEPS: A muscle having two heads or origins applied particularly to a flexor in the arm, and to another in the thigh.

BILATERAL: Having two sides or pertaining to both sides.

BRACHIAL: Pertaining or belonging to the arm; as, the brachial artery; the brachial nerve.

BRACHIAL PLEXUS: A network of lower cervical and upper dorsal spinal nerves supplying the arm, forearm and hand.

BREECH DELIVERY: The extraction or expulsion of the fetus which occurs buttocks or feet first.

CERVICAL: Pertaining to the neck or to the neck of any organ or structure.

CERVICAL PLEXUS: A network of nerve fibers originating in the upper four cervical spinal cord segments. The cervical plexus distributes cutaneous nerves to parts of the neck, shoulders, and back of the head, and motor fibers to muscles of the cervical spinal column, infrahyoid muscles, and the diaphragm.

CLAVICLE: Also called the collar bone, it articulates, with the shoulder on one end (at the acromion process of the scapula) and the sternum (breast bone) on the other.

CONTRACTURE: A condition of fixed high resistance to passive stretch of a muscle, resulting from fibrosis of the tissues supporting the muscles or the joints or from disorders of the muscle fibers.

(CT) COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY MYELOGRAM: A diagnostic procedure where a radiopaque contrast dye is injected into the spinal canal. X‑rays are then performed which reveal the anatomy of the spinal canal.

DELTOID: Adducts arm, anterior fibres flex and rotate arm medially, Posterior fibres extend and rotate arm laterally.

DIAPHRAGM: The thin muscle below the lungs and heart that separates the chest from the abdomen.

DORSAL: Naming a position more toward the back surface than some other object of reference.

DYSTOCIA: Difficult delivery.

ELECTROMYOGRAPHY (EMG): A test in which a small needle is inserted into muscle to record electrical activity inside the muscle.

EXTENSION: The movement by which the two elements of any jointed part are drawn away from each other.

EXTENSOR: A muscle which serves to extend or straighten any part of the body, as an arm or a finger; opposed to flexor.

EXTRA FORAMINAL: when the nerve root is ruptured outside the vertebral canal

FIBROUS TISSUE: Although most connective tissue has fibrillar elements, the term usually refers to tissue laid down at a wound site, forming a scar. Excessive contraction and hyperplasia leads to formation of a keloid.

FLACCID: Weak, lax and soft.

FLEXION: Moving a joint in, the direction to bring it closer to the body. Example: "hand to mouth" movement.

FLEXOR: A muscle which bends or flexes any part; as, the flexors of the arm or the hand; opposed to extensor.

FLUOROSCOPY: an X-ray imagine for evaluating the mobility of the diaphragm and therefore the lung expansion.

HORNER'S SYNDROME: A nerve condition which involves a dropping eyelid (ptosis), constricted pupil (myosis), sunken eyeball (enophthalmos) and lack of sweating on one side of the face. It is seen in association with injury to the cervical sympathetic nerve trunk in the neck.

INFRACLAVICULAR: the anatomical region under the clavicle

INNERVATION: The nervous excitation necessary for the maintenance of the life and functions of the various organs including muscles. Example: if a muscle contracts then we know that it is innervated.

INTERCOSTAL NERVES: Nerves situated between the ribs.

LUXATION: Complete dislocation of a joint, subluxation is partial dislocation of a joint

MEDIAL: The side of the body or body part that is nearer to the middle or center (median) of the body. For example, when referring to the knee, medial would mean the side of the knee that is closest to the other knee, the opposite of medial is lateral.

MEDIAL ROTATION CONTRACTURE: a contracture that maintain the arm internally rotated

MOTOR: A muscle, nerve or center that effects or produces movement.

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI): A special imaging technique used to image internal structures of the body, particularly the soft tissues. A MRI image is often superior to a normal X‑ray image. It uses the influence of a large magnet to polarize hydrogen atoms in the tissues and then monitors the summation of the spinning energies within living cells. Images are very clear and are particularly good for soft tissue, brain and spinal cord, joints and abdomen.

MUSCULOCUTANEOUS: Pertaining both to muscles and skin; as, the musculocutancous nerve.

NEUROLYSIS: Surgical removal of all or part of a neuroma.

NEUROMA: A benign tumor composed of nerve cells; the scar tissue that forms when there is nerve damage.

OSTEOTOMY: a section of the bone

PARALYZE: To affect or strike with paralysis or palsy.

PASSIVE: Neither spontaneous nor active, not produced by active efforts.

PECTORALIS MUSCLES: Muscular tissues attached to the front of the chest wall and extending to the upper arms. These are under the breast. They are divided into the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor muscles.

PERIPHERAL NERVES: The nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord, including the autonomic, cranial, and spinal nerves. Peripheral nerves contain non‑neuronal cells and connective tissue as well as axons. The connective tissue layers include, from the outside to the inside, the epineurium, the perineurium, and the endoneurium.

PHRENIC NERVE: The motor nerve of the diaphragm. The phrenic nerve fibers originate in the cervical spinal column (mostly C4) and travel through the cervical plexus to the diaphragm.

PHYSIATRIST: A physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Physiatrists specialize in restoring optimal function to people with injuries to the muscles, bones, tissues, and nervous system.

PHYSICAL THERAPIST: A rehabilitation professional who promotes optimal health and functional independence through the application of scientific principles to prevent, identify, assess, correct, or alleviate acute or chronic movement dysfunction, physical disability, or pain.

PLEXUS: A network or tangle, a general term for a network of lymphatic vessels, nerves or veins.

POSTERIOR: Situated in back of or in the back part of or affecting the back or dorsal surface of the body. In lower animals, it refers to the caudal end of the body.

PRESENTATION: The relationship of the long axis of the fetus to that of the mother (also called lie). That portion of the fetus which is touched by the examining finger through the cervix or during labor, is bounded by the girdIe of resistance.

PROXIMAL: Nearest to, closer to any point of reference, opposed to distal.

RANGE OF MOTION (ROM): The range through which a joint can be moved, usually its range of flexion and extension. Active range of motion (AROM) is the active movement of a muscle. Passive range of motion (PROM) is the motion range of a joint through manual assistance.

RUPTURE: Forcible tearing or disruption of tissue.

SPONTANEOUS: Proceeding from, or acting by, internal impulse, energy, or natural law, without external force; as, spontaneous motion; spontaneous growth.

SUBSCAPULARIS ACTION: Rotates arm medially, helps in adduction, abduction, flexion and extension.

SUPINE: Lying on the back.

SUPRACLAVICULAR : the anatomical region above the clavicle

SURAL: Of or pertaining to the calf of the leg; as, the sural arteries or sural nerves.

TERES MINOR: A muscle which rotates the arm laterally and adducts it.

THORACIC: Pertaining to or affecting the chest.

TRAPEZIUS ACTION: Rotates scapula to raise point of shoulder, adducts scapula, upper part raises. scapula, lower part lowers and pulls scapula down, upper part draws head to same side and turns face to opposite side, two sides together draw head back.

TRICEPS ACTION: Extends and adducts forearm.