Glossary
Physical therapy often includes medical terms that may be unfamiliar. This glossary explains common physical therapy, rehabilitation, and wellness terms in simple language to help you better understand your diagnosis, treatment plan, and recovery. Whether you're preparing for your first appointment or looking for more information about your care, this glossary is a helpful resource.
A
Active Range of Motion (AROM): Movement performed using your own muscles without assistance.
Acute Injury: A recent injury that occurs suddenly, such as a sprained ankle or pulled muscle.
Alignment: The position of your joints and body during movement.
Aquatic Therapy: Physical therapy performed in warm water to reduce stress on joints while improving strength, mobility, and function.
Arthritis: Inflammation or degeneration of one or more joints that may cause pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility.
Assisted Stretching: Hands-on stretching performed by a therapist to improve flexibility, mobility, and overall movement.
B
Balance Training: Exercises designed to improve stability, coordination, and reduce fall risk.
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV): A common inner ear condition that causes brief episodes of dizziness or a spinning sensation when changing the position of your head.
Biomechanics: The study of how your body moves during everyday activities, exercise, work, and sports.
Body Mechanics: The way you position and move your body during activities to reduce stress on muscles and joints.
C
Canalith Repositioning: A series of guided head and body movements used to reposition tiny calcium crystals in the inner ear that may be causing dizziness or vertigo.
Chronic Fatigue: Persistent tiredness or low energy that does not fully improve with rest and may interfere with daily activities.
Chronic Pain: Pain lasting longer than three months.
Compensation Pattern: A movement strategy your body develops to avoid pain or weakness, which may lead to additional problems over time.
Concussion Therapy: Specialized treatment to help patients recover from concussion symptoms
Core Strength: The muscles of your abdomen, back, and pelvis that stabilize your body and support movement.
Cupping Therapy: A treatment using suction cups to improve circulation, reduce muscle tightness, and promote healing.
D
Desensitization: A treatment approach that gradually reduce pain, sensitivity, or discomfort by gently exposing an area to movement, touch, or different textures over time.
Direct Access: The ability to see a physical therapist without a physician referral when allowed by Wisconsin law.
Dry Needling: A technique using thin needles to release muscle trigger points, reduce pain, and improve movement.
E
Ergonomic Training: Education and strategies to improve how a person sits, stands, moves, or works to reduce strain and improve comfort.
Ergonomics: The science of designing workspaces and activities to improve comfort, safety, and efficiency.
Evaluation: Your first physical therapy appointment where your therapist assesses your condition and develops a personalized treatment plan.
F
Fascial Restrictions: Tightness or limitations within the connective tissue surrounding muscles that may reduce movement and cause discomfort.
Flexibility: The ability of muscles and joints to move through their full range of motion.
Functional Capacity: A person's ability to safely perform work or daily activities.
Functional Movement: Movements used during everyday activities like walking, lifting, reaching, and climbing stairs.
G
Gait: The way a person walks.
Gait Analysis: An evaluation of the way you walk to identify movement patterns that may contribute to pain, injury, or reduced performance.
Gait Training: Exercises and instruction designed to improve the safety, efficiency, and quality of walking.
Gaze Stabilization: Exercises that improve your ability to keep your eyes focused while moving your head, helping reduce dizziness and improve balance.
H
Hands-On Techniques: Physical therapy techniques in which a therapist uses their hands to improve movement, reduce pain, and support healing.
Home Exercise Program (HEP): Exercises prescribed by your therapist to continue improving between therapy visits.
I
Inflammation: The body's natural healing response to injury or irritation.
Isometric Exercise: A muscle contraction performed without joint movement.
J
Joint Mobilization: A gentle hands-on technique used to improve joint movement, decrease stiffness, and reduce pain.
Joint Mobility: The ability of a joint to move freely through its normal range of motion.
K
Kinesiology Tape: Elastic therapeutic tape used to support muscles and joints while allowing normal movement.
L
Ligamentous Integrity: How healthy and stable a ligament is and whether it is properly supporting a joint.
Low Back Pain: One of the most common conditions treated in physical therapy.
M
Manual Therapy: Hands-on treatment including joint mobilization, stretching, and soft tissue techniques to improve movement and reduce pain.
Meniscal Tests: Physical examination techniques used to evaluate for irritation or injury to the meniscus, the cartilage that cushions the knee.
Mobility: The ability to move a joint or body part freely.
Motor Control Interventions: Exercises and treatment techniques that improve how the brain and body work together to create smooth, coordinated movement.
Motor End Plate Dysfunction: A disruption in communication between a nerve and muscle that may contribute to muscle tightness, discomfort, or altered movement patterns.
Movement Patterns: The way your body moves during everyday activities, exercise, work, or sports.
Muscle Guarding: The body's natural response of tightening muscles around a painful or injured area to help protect it.
Muscle Imbalances: A condition in which some muscles are stronger, weaker, tighter, or less active than others, affecting posture and movement.
Muscle Spasms: Sudden, involuntary muscle contractions that may cause pain or limit movement.
Muscle Strain: An injury that occurs when muscle fibers are stretched or torn.
Muscle Tension: A prolonged state of muscle tightness that can contribute to discomfort, stiffness, and reduced mobility.
Myofascial Release: A hands-on treatment that targets tight connective tissue to improve movement and reduce pain.
N
Nerve Irritation: When a nerve becomes sensitive or irritated that may cause pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness.
Neuromuscular Re-education: Exercises that retrain movement patterns, coordination, balance, and body awareness.
O
Orthopedic Physical Therapy: Treatment focused on muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, and bones.
Overuse Injury: An injury that develops gradually from repetitive movements or excessive activity.
P
Pain Neuroscience Education: Education that explains how pain works within the body and nervous system to help reduce fear, improve understanding, and support recovery.
Pain Scale: A tool used to measure the intensity of pain, often ranging from 0 to 10.
Pacing Strategies: A way of balancing activity and rest to help manage symptoms and avoid overdoing activities.
Physical Therapist (PT): A licensed healthcare professional who evaluates, diagnoses, and treats movement disorders and physical impairments.
Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA): A licensed healthcare professional who works under the supervision of a physical therapist to provide treatment.
Plan of Care: Your personalized treatment plan developed during your evaluation.
Postural Retraining: Exercises and education to improve posture and body positioning during daily activities.
Posture: The position of your body while sitting, standing, or moving.
Prehabilitation (Prehab): Exercises performed before surgery to improve recovery afterward.
Proprioception: Your body's awareness of where it is in space, helping with balance and coordination.
Prosthesis Training: Physical therapy focused on helping individuals safely, comfortably, and confidently use an artificial limb.
R
Radiculopathy: Pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness caused by irritation or compression of a spinal nerve.
Range of Motion (ROM): The amount of movement available at a joint.
Rehabilitation: The process of restoring strength, mobility, function, and independence after injury, illness, or surgery.
Resistance Exercise: Exercises that strengthen muscles using weights, resistance bands, or body weight.
Rotator Cuff: A group of four shoulder muscles and tendons that stabilize the shoulder and allow arm movement.
S
Scar Tissue: Fibrous tissue that forms as part of the body's natural healing process after an injury or surgery.
Sciatica: Pain that travels along the sciatic nerve, often extending from the lower back into the buttock and leg.
Soft Tissue: Muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and other connective tissues.
Soft Tissue Mobilization: A hands-on treatment that targets muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia to reduce tightness, improve mobility, and relieve pain.
Soft Tissue Techniques: Hands-on treatments focused on muscles, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissues to improve movement and comfort.
Spasticity / Tone Management: Treatment approaches that help manage muscle tightness and improve movement and comfort.
Spinal Mobility: The ability of the joints in the spine to move through their normal range of motion.
Sports Medicine: Treatment focused on athletic injuries, recovery, injury prevention, and performance.
Strength Training: Exercises that improve muscular strength and endurance.
Stress Fracture: A small crack in a bone caused by repetitive stress or overuse rather than a single injury.
Stress Response: Early irritation or inflammation within a bone that develops before a stress fracture occurs.
T
Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ): The joint that connects your jaw to your skull, allowing you to talk, chew, yawn, and open and close your mouth.
Tendinitis (Tendonitis): Inflammation or irritation of a tendon, often caused by overuse or repetitive movement.
Tendinosis: A chronic degeneration of a tendon caused by repeated stress rather than inflammation.
Therapeutic Exercise: Exercises prescribed to improve strength, flexibility, endurance, balance, coordination, and movement.
Therapeutic Modalities: Treatments such as heat, ice, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, or compression used to reduce pain and support healing.
Trigger Point: A tight, sensitive area within a muscle that may cause pain locally or in another area of the body.
V
Vasopneumatic Compression: A treatment that uses intermittent air pressure to reduce swelling, improve circulation, and support recovery.
Vestibular Exercises: Exercises that help improve balance, reduce dizziness, and retrain the inner ear and brain to work together more effectively.
Vestibular Rehabilitation: A specialized form of physical therapy designed to treat dizziness, vertigo, balance disorders, and other vestibular conditions.
Vestibular System: The part of the inner ear and brain that controls balance, spatial orientation, and eye movement.
W
Warm-Up: Light activity performed before exercise to prepare muscles and joints for movement.
Wellness & Recovery: Services designed to improve mobility, flexibility, recovery, and overall well-being, including infrared sauna, salt therapy, vasopneumatic compression, and warm-water exercise.
Whiplash: A neck injury caused by a sudden back-and-forth movement of the head, commonly occurring during motor vehicle accidents.
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Your health is our top priority. Let our physical therapists help you reduce pain and improve function so you can get back to your normal activities sooner. Based in Lake Mills, Optimal Physical Therapy proudly serves Lake Mills and surrounding communities including Cambridge, Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Watertown, Marshall, Waterloo, Deerfield, and Johnson Creek.