Brain Injury Glossary

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Brain Injury Glossary

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Palsy: Paraylsis.
Paralytic Ileus: Loss of movement in the small intestine, resulting in gas and fluid build-up. It usually lasts a few days after injury.
Paraplegia: Paralysis of the legs (from the waist down).
Parietal Lobe: One of the two parietal lobes of the brain located behind the frontal lobe at the top of the brain.
Parietal Lobe, Right: Damage of this area can cause visuo-spatial deficits (e.g., the person may have difficulty finding their way around new or familiar places).
Parietal Lobe, Left: Damage to this area may disrupt a person's ability to understand spoken and/or written language.
Perception: The ability to make sense of what one sees, hears, feels, tastes or smells. Perceptual losses are often very subtle, and the patient and/or family may be unaware of them.
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Nerves that extend from the spinal cord to other parts of the body, transmitting messages to and from these parts and sending sensory signals back to the spinal cord and brain. The PNS is not part of the CNS (central nervous system). Peripheral nerves have the ability to regenerate if they are damaged.
Perseveration: The inappropriate persistence of a response in a current task which may have been appropriate for a former task. Perseverations may be verbal or motoric.
Persistent Vegetative State (PVS): A long-standing condition in which the patient utters no words and does not follow commands or make any response that is meaningful.
Petit Mal: A term used to describe a mild form of seizure characterized by a blank stare and temporary pause in activity.
Phantom Pain: Sensation of a limb that has been amputated from the body.
Phonation: The production of sound by means of vocal cord vibration.
Physiatrist: A physician who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Some physiatrists are experts in neurological rehabilitation, trained to diagnose and treat disabling conditions. The physiatrist examines the patient to assure that medical issues are addressed; provides appropriate medical information to the patient, family members and members of the treatment team. The physiatrist follows the patient closely throughout treatment and oversees the patient's rehabilitation program.
Physical Therapist: The physical therapist evaluates components of movement, including: muscle strength, muscle tone, posture, coordination, endurance, and general mobility. The physical therapist also evaluates the potential for functional movement, such as ability to move in the bed, transfers and walking and then proceeds to establish an individualized treatment program to help the patient achieve functional independence.
PIA: One of three membranes holding the brain together.
Plasticity: The ability of cellular or tissue structures and their resultant function to be influenced by an ongoing activity.
Plateau: A temporary or permanent leveling off in the recovery process.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET): Imaging that measures blood flow and the metabolism of body tissue.
Post-acute Rehabilitation: Are programs designed to provide intensive, 24-hour rehabilitation to improve cognitive, physical, emotional, and psychosocial abilities, to facilitate better independent living skills. Facilities typically provide a full spectrum of clinical therapies, as well as life-skills training in a residential setting.
Post Concussion Syndrome: A particular group of impairments that characterize the effects of injury on the brain and behavior. PCS include impairments in the ability to think, to do, and to know. PCS is characterized by diminished, self-awareness and diminished ability to benefit from experience. Other difficulties includes unreliable memory, rapid mood swings, poor concentration, headache, dizziness, hypersensitivity, depression and anxiety.
Post Traumatic Amnesia (PTA): A period of hours, weeks, days or months after the injury when the patient exhibits a loss of day-to-day memory. The patient is unable to store new information and therefore has a decreased ability to learn. Memory of the PTA period is never stored, therefore things that happened during that period cannot be recalled. May also be called Anterograde Amnesia.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Not long ago, post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, used to be known as "shell shock" or "battle fatigue." The old terms were popularized during World War II, and continued to be so until just recently. Back then, PTSD was thought to affect only combat veterans. Now, scientist know that, in fact, survivors of atrocities such as the Holocaust, torture, rape, domestic violence, child abuse, war, natural disasters, catastrophic illnesses, and horrific accidents, are susceptible to post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.
Postural Drainage: Using gravity to help the clear lungs of mucus by positioning the head lower than chest.
Postural Hypotension: The reduction of blood pressure resulting in light-headedness. Due to changes in the autonomic nervous system of persons with spinal cord injury, blood vessels do not decrease in size in response to lowered blood pressure. The result is that blood pools up in legs or pelvic region.
Posture: The attitude of the body. Posture is maintained by low-grade, continuous contraction of muscles which counteract the pull of gravity on body parts. Injury to the nervous system can impair the ability to maintain normal posture, for example holding up the head.
Pre-Morbid Condition: Characteristics of an individual present before the disease or injury occurred.
Pressure Release: Regular procedure to relieve pressure from sitting on the ischial turberosities. Necessary to avoid pressure sores.
Pressure Sore: Also known as skin sore or decubitus ulcer, is an avoidable and potentially dangerous skin erosion due to pressure. They usually occur over bony prominences and are subject to infection and tissue death.
Problem-Solving Skill: Ability to consider the probable factors that can influence the outcome of each of various solutions to a problem, and to select the most advantageous solution. Individuals with deficits in this skill may become "immobilized" when faced with a problem. By being unable to think of possible solutions, they may respond by doing nothing.
Prognosis: The prospect as to recovery from a disease or injury as indicated by the nature and symptoms of the case.
Prone: Lying on one's stomach.
Proprioception: The sensory awareness of the position of body parts with or without movement. Combination of kinesthesia and position sense.
Psychogenic: Originating in the mind.
Psychologist: A professional specializing in counseling, including adjustment to disability. Psychologists use tests to identify personality and cognitive functioning. This information is shared with team members to assure consistency in approaches. The psychologist may provide individual or group psychotherapy for the purpose of cognitive retraining, management of behavior and the development of coping skills by the patient/client and members of the family.
Prosody: The inflections or intonations of speech.
Prosthesis: Replacement device for a body part, for example an artificial limb.
Proximal: Next to, or nearest, the point of attachment.
Psychiatric Morbidity: Mental illness.
Psychic Trauma: An emotional shock or distressful situation that produces a lasting impression on the inner essence of an individual.
Psychogenic: A physical symptom, disease or emotional state that is of mental in origin.
Psychological Examination: A group of standardized tests designed to measure an individual's intellectual capacity, motivation, perception, role behavior, values, level of anxiety, coping mechanisms, depression and general personality integration.
Ptosis: Drooping of a body part, such as the upper eyelid, from paralysis, or the displacement of visceral organs from weakness of abdominal muscles.

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