Plain definitions of 34 terms we use on the job in Stonecrest.
Term Index
Open any term below for a dedicated definition page.
Acute Pain is a short-term pain response that starts suddenly after an injury, illness, surgery, or other tissue stress. The pain often signals that the body has been affected and may change as healing progresses. Doctors assess its location, strength, timing, and effect on movement to guide care.
Allodynia is pain caused by a touch or movement that usually does not hurt. A light brush, clothing, or gentle pressure may feel painful when nerves send unusually strong pain signals. Allodynia often appears with nerve-related pain and can affect the skin, muscles, or deeper tissues in one area.
Axial Pain is pain centered in the spine or nearby supporting tissues, such as the neck muscles, joints, or ligaments. The discomfort usually stays near its source and may feel aching, stiff, or sore. It differs from radicular pain, which follows an irritated nerve into an arm or leg.
A Bone Spur is a bony growth that develops along a joint or bone edge. Bone spurs often form as the body responds to joint wear, irritation, or changes linked with arthritis. Some cause no symptoms, while others may contribute to pain, stiffness, reduced movement, or pressure on nearby tissues.
Also called: Osteophyte
Bursa is a small, fluid-filled sac near a joint that reduces rubbing between bones, tendons, muscles, and skin. A bursa helps tissues move smoothly during shoulder motion. Irritation or swelling in this sac is called bursitis, which can cause pain with lifting, reaching, or lying on the affected shoulder.
Also called: Bursae
Cauda Equina Syndrome is a serious condition caused by pressure on the bundle of nerves below the spinal cord. The pressure can affect feeling and movement in the legs, bladder and bowel control, and sexual function. Severe spinal stenosis, a herniated disc, bleeding, or other problems can cause this pressure.
Central Sensitization is a change in the nervous system that makes pain signals feel stronger or last longer than expected. The brain and spinal cord become more responsive to signals from the body. This process can help explain widespread pain, tenderness, fatigue, and symptoms that continue after an injury has healed.
Cervical Spine is the upper section of the spinal column in your neck. It supports the head, allows neck movement, and protects the spinal cord as it travels between the brain and body. The cervical spine also contains joints, discs, bones, muscles, and nerve roots that can contribute to neck pain.
Also called: Neck Spine
Chronic Pain is pain that continues or returns over an extended period and may remain after an injury or illness changes. Chronic Pain can involve tissue irritation, nerve signals, or changes in how the nervous system processes pain. Doctors assess its pattern, cause, effect on daily life, and response to treatment.
Also called: Persistent Pain
Corticosteroid is a medicine that reduces inflammation and related swelling in the body. Doctors may place it near an irritated nerve, joint, or other painful area. The medicine can ease inflammation-linked pain, but it does not repair a damaged disc, joint, or nerve. Corticosteroids differ from anabolic steroids used to build muscle.
Also called: Glucocorticoid
A Facet Joint is a small connection between the bones at the back of the spine. Each joint helps guide spinal movement and adds stability. A facet joint has cartilage and a capsule that can contain pain-sensing nerves. Pain from these joints may occur in the neck or lower back.
Also called: Zygapophyseal Joint
Fluoroscopy is a live X-ray imaging method that shows moving body structures on a screen. A physician uses the images to guide a needle toward a planned treatment area. During an epidural steroid injection, fluoroscopy can help confirm the needle’s position before medication is delivered near an irritated spinal nerve.
Also called: Live X-ray
Foraminal Stenosis is a narrowing of the openings between spinal bones where nerve roots leave the spinal canal. The narrowing can crowd a nerve root and contribute to pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness along the nerve's path. Bone spurs, disc changes, or joint changes can reduce this space.
Also called: Neural Foraminal Stenosis
Gabapentin is a prescription medicine that helps calm abnormal nerve signaling linked to certain types of pain. Clinicians may use it for neuropathic pain, which can feel like burning, tingling, electric shocks, or sensitivity to touch. Gabapentin may also have other medical uses, so the reason for treatment depends on your symptoms and health history.
Also called: Neurontin
Image Guidance is a technique that uses live medical images to help a clinician see body structures during a procedure. The images can show the target area and nearby anatomy. This view helps guide a needle toward the intended joint or tissue during an injection, based on the patient’s anatomy.
Also called: Imaging Guidance
A joint capsule is a tough sleeve of connective tissue that surrounds a movable joint. The capsule helps hold the joint together and contains a small space where lubricating fluid reduces friction. It also has nerve endings that can send pain signals when the capsule becomes irritated, inflamed, or stretched.
Also called: Articular Capsule
Lumbar Radiculopathy is a nerve root problem in the lower spine that causes pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness along a leg. A bulging disc, bone spur, or narrowed spinal opening can press on or irritate a nerve root. Symptoms may follow a path from the low back through the buttock and leg.
Also called: Lumbar Nerve Root Pain
Lumbar Spine is the lower section of the backbone between the chest and pelvis. It contains vertebrae, discs, joints, nerves, and supporting tissues. This region carries much of the body’s load and helps you bend, twist, sit, stand, and walk. Problems here may cause low back pain or symptoms that travel into a leg.
Also called: Lower Back Spine
A Nerve Conduction Study is a diagnostic test that measures how well electrical signals travel through peripheral nerves. Small electrical pulses stimulate a nerve, and sensors record the signal’s speed and strength. The results can help identify nerve damage, compression, or reduced nerve function linked to symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or weakness.
Also called: NCS
A nerve root is a short bundle of nerve fibers that leaves the spinal cord through an opening between the vertebrae. Each nerve root carries signals between the spinal cord and a specific area of the body. Irritation or pressure on a nerve root can cause pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness along its path.
Neuropathic Pain is pain caused by damage, irritation, or abnormal signaling in the nerves. The pain may feel burning, electric, shooting, tingling, or numb. It can follow an injury, illness, nerve compression, or another condition that affects nerve function. The painful area may also become unusually sensitive to light touch.
Also called: Nerve Pain
Nociceptive Pain is pain caused by signals from damaged, irritated, or inflamed body tissues. These signals travel through nerves to the brain, which recognizes them as pain. Common sources include joints, muscles, bones, skin, and other tissues. Arthritis pain often has a nociceptive pattern because joint inflammation can activate nearby pain receptors.
Also called: Tissue Pain
A Pain Diary is a written or digital record of pain symptoms, daily activities, treatments, and changes over time. You record details such as where pain occurs, how it feels, and what affects it. These notes help clinicians connect symptoms with patterns and assess how pain affects daily function.
Also called: Pain Journal
Pain Scale is a clinical tool that helps you describe how severe your pain feels. A pain scale may use words, faces, or an ordered range from no pain to the worst pain. Healthcare professionals record your report, compare changes over time, and include the result in medical records.
Also called: Pain Rating Scale
Pain Threshold is the point at which a person first notices a stimulus as painful. The point can differ between people and can change with sleep, stress, illness, mood, or repeated pain. Pain threshold describes the start of pain, not how long someone can tolerate pain after it begins.
Postherpetic Neuralgia is a nerve pain condition that can continue after a shingles rash clears. Damaged nerves may send burning, shooting, tingling, or aching signals from the affected skin. Light touch, clothing, or temperature changes may trigger pain in the same area where shingles caused the rash.
Also called: Shingles Nerve Pain
Referred Pain is pain felt in one body area even though the source lies elsewhere. Shared nerve pathways can cause the brain to misread the pain's location. For example, a shoulder problem may cause pain felt near the upper arm. The painful area may be healthy, so a careful exam helps identify the source.
Also called: Radiating Pain
Sacroiliac Joint is a strong connection between the sacrum at the base of the spine and the ilium of the pelvis. Each person has a joint on both sides. These joints allow small movements, transfer forces between the spine and legs, and can produce pain in the low back, buttock, hip, or groin.
Also called: SI Joint
Spinal Cord is a long bundle of nerve tissue that carries messages between the brain and the body. It helps control movement, feeling, and some automatic body functions. The spinal cord runs inside the spinal canal and connects with nerves that reach the arms, legs, chest, and other areas.
Also called: Spinal Marrow
The sympathetic nervous system is a part of the autonomic nervous system that prepares your body to respond to stress, pain, or danger. It can raise alertness, change blood flow, increase heart activity, and affect sweating. In some pain conditions, abnormal sympathetic activity may help maintain burning or color-changing pain.
Also called: Sympathetic Nerve System
TENS Therapy is a noninvasive treatment that sends mild electrical pulses through skin electrodes to affect nerve signals and ease pain. A small battery-powered device controls the pulse pattern and strength. TENS may support pain care for muscle, joint, nerve, or other pain, but results vary by person and condition.
Also called: Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
Thermal Lesioning is a pain treatment method that applies controlled heat to targeted nerve tissue. The heat changes how the nerve sends pain signals to the brain. Doctors often use this method during radiofrequency ablation to treat pain linked to specific spinal joints or other nerves identified during an evaluation.
Also called: Heat Lesioning
A Vertebral Body is the thick, rounded front part of a spinal bone, also called a vertebra. Vertebral bodies stack to form the spine and carry much of its weight. Between them are discs that help absorb movement. Changes in a vertebral body can affect nearby nerves and contribute to back pain.
Also called: Spinal Body
Visceral Pain is a type of pain that comes from internal organs or the tissues around them. The discomfort may feel deep, dull, cramping, pressure-like, or hard to locate. Signals from organs can also cause pain in another body area, a pattern called referred pain.
Also called: Organ Pain
