Dr. Scott F. Gillman - Family & Sports Chiropractic

Chiropractic Glossary

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AMENORRHEA - Absence of the menses, due to causes other than pregnancy or advancing age. Female athletes who lose too much body fat also develop amenorrhea.

AMNESIA - Loss of memory caused by brain damage or by severe emotional trauma.

ANALGESIA - Loss of sense to pain, and/or loss of response to a painful stimulus.

ANALYSIS: The act of separating the clinical evaluation of a condition or disease into components as part of the process of forming a clinical impression or diagnosis.

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE: A published account of an observation or experience. This includes categories and classifications of procedures, technologies, or equipment that have not been investigated using the experimental method.

ANESTHESIA - Loss of sensation of a body part or of the body, or the loss of consciousness when a drug has been administered.

ANESTHESIOLOGIST - Physician who administers painkilling or anesthesia medications during surgery or other medical procedures.

ANEURYSM - Dilation of an artery, formed by a circumscribed enlargement of its wall.

ANGIOGRAM - A study which shows the blood vessels leading to and in the brain by injecting a dye, or contrast substance, through a catheter placed in an artery in the leg.

ANGIOGRAPHY - Radiography of blood vessels using the injection of material opaque to x-rays to give better definition to the vessels.

ANGIOMA - A tumor whose cells tend to form blood vessels (hemangioma) or lymph vessels (lymphangioma).

ANNULUS FIBROSIS - The outer, fibrous, ring-like portion of an intervertebral disc.

ANOREXIA - A condition marked by loss of appetite leading to weight loss.

ANOSMIC - No sense of smell.

ANOXIA - Total lack of oxygen supply.

ANTERIOR - Front of the body or situated nearer the front of the body.

ANTEROLATERAL - Situated or occurring in front of and to the outer side of the body.

ANTEROMEDIAL - Situated or occurring in front of and towards the midline of the body.

ANTHROPOMETRY: The study of proportional relationships between the shape, weight and size of body segments.

ANTICOAGULANT - A medication that prevents coagulation of the blood.

ANTI-DIURETIC - An agent which reduces the output of urine. Anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) is formed in the hypothalamus and stored in the posterior pituitary gland.

APHASIA - Difficulty with or loss of use of language in any of several ways, including reading, writing, or speaking. Failure of understanding written, printed, or spoken word. Related to specific lesions in the brain.

APNEA - Cessation of respiration; inability to get one's breath.

ARACHNOID - Middle layer of membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

ARACHNOIDITIS - Inflammation of the arachnoid membrane. Most commonly seen within the spinal cord, around the spinal cord, and cauda equina.

ARNOLD-CHIARI MALFORMATION - A condition in which there is displacement of the medulla and cerebellum into the opening in the basilar part of the occipital bone. It is one of the causes of hydrocephalus and is usually accompanied by spina bifida and menigomyelocele.

ARTERIOSCLEROSIS - Thickening and calcification of the arterial wall with loss of elasticity and contractility.

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