Plain definitions of 35 terms we use on the job in Stockbridge.
Term Index
Open any term below for a dedicated definition page.
Acute Pain is a short-term pain response that usually begins after an injury, illness, procedure, or surgery. The pain often signals that the body has been affected and may change as healing progresses. Doctors assess its location, intensity, quality, and effect on movement when planning care.
Also called: Short-Term Pain
Allodynia is a nerve pain condition in which a normally harmless touch or sensation feels painful. Light clothing, gentle pressure, or a mild temperature change may trigger pain. Allodynia often reflects altered nerve signaling and can occur with peripheral neuropathy, nerve injury, or other pain conditions.
Also called: Pain From Light Touch
An annular tear is a small split in the tough outer ring of a spinal disc. The outer ring is called the annulus fibrosus. A tear may cause local back or neck pain, and it can allow disc material to press toward nearby nerves. Imaging findings and symptoms do not always match.
Also called: Annular Fissure
Axial Pain is pain that stays mainly in the spine or nearby tissues, such as the neck or lower back. The discomfort may come from joints, discs, muscles, or ligaments. Axial pain does not follow a single nerve path into an arm or leg, which helps distinguish it from radiating nerve pain.
Also called: Spinal Pain
A bursa is a small, fluid-filled sac that cushions movement between bones, tendons, muscles, and skin. Bursae help reduce friction near joints, such as the shoulder, hip, knee, or elbow. Irritation or swelling in a bursa can cause localized pain and may affect how a joint moves.
Also called: Bursal Sac
Central Sensitization is a change in how the brain and spinal cord process pain signals. This change can make normal sensations feel painful and can increase responses to painful events. It may occur with ongoing pain conditions, including fibromyalgia, even when tissue damage does not fully explain the person’s symptoms.
Also called: Central Sensitivity
A cervicogenic headache is a headache caused by a problem in the neck, such as irritation in the cervical joints, muscles, or nerves. Pain often starts in the back of the head or neck and spreads toward the forehead, temple, or eye. Neck movement may increase the pain.
Also called: Neck-Origin Headache
Chronic Pain is ongoing or recurring pain that continues beyond the usual healing period for an injury or illness. The pain may come from tissue damage, nerve changes, inflammation, or more than one cause. Symptoms can affect sleep, movement, mood, and daily activities, even when the original problem has changed.
Also called: Persistent Pain
A dermatome is an area of skin supplied by sensory nerves from one spinal nerve root. Doctors use dermatomes to map symptoms such as pain, tingling, or numbness. The pattern can help connect a neck nerve problem with symptoms traveling into the shoulder, arm, or hand.
Also called: Skin Nerve Area
A Disc Bulge is a spinal disc change where the disc extends outward beyond its usual boundary. The outer disc layer remains mostly intact, but the widened shape can press on nearby nerves or other tissues. Some disc bulges cause pain or numbness, while others cause no noticeable symptoms.
Also called: Bulging Disc
Dorsal Root Ganglion is a cluster of nerve cell bodies beside a spinal nerve root. It carries sensory signals from the body toward the spinal cord. In lumbar radiculopathy, irritation near this area may contribute to leg pain, numbness, tingling, or altered feeling along a nerve’s path.
Also called: DRG
The epidural space is a narrow area inside the spinal canal that surrounds the outer covering of the spinal cord and spinal nerves. This space contains fat and small blood vessels. Doctors may place medicine there to reduce inflammation around irritated nerves, often during an epidural steroid injection.
Also called: Spinal Epidural Space
A Facet Joint is a small joint between the bones at the back of the spine. Facet joints guide spinal movement and help connect nearby vertebrae. Each joint has cartilage and a thin capsule that may become irritated from injury, arthritis, or repeated stress, causing pain near the affected part of the spine.
Also called: Zygapophyseal Joint
Failed Back Surgery Syndrome is ongoing or returning back or leg pain after spinal surgery. The term does not mean that surgery was poorly performed. Pain may come from nerve irritation, scar tissue, spinal changes, or another source that needs review. Doctors use the term to guide further assessment and post-surgical pain treatment.
Also called: FBSS, Post-Laminectomy Syndrome
Foraminal Stenosis is a narrowing of the openings between spinal bones where nerve roots leave the spine. The narrowing may press on a nerve root and cause pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness along the nerve’s path. It can affect the neck or lower back and may result from aging, bone growth, or disc changes.
Also called: Neural Foraminal Narrowing
Hyperalgesia is an increased pain response to a stimulus that normally causes pain. The nervous system becomes more sensitive, so pressure, heat, or injury may feel more painful than expected. Hyperalgesia can occur with nerve irritation, inflammation, or ongoing pain and may appear with neuropathy or other pain conditions.
Also called: Increased Pain Sensitivity
Inflammation is the body’s response to irritation, injury, or disease. It involves changes in nearby tissues and immune activity. These changes may cause pain, warmth, swelling, stiffness, or reduced movement. In arthritis, inflammation may affect a joint lining and contribute to aching, tenderness, and difficulty with daily activities.
Also called: Inflammatory Response
A joint effusion is extra fluid inside or around a joint. The fluid may collect after injury, inflammation, arthritis, or another joint problem. This swelling can make the joint feel tight, tender, or difficult to move. A joint effusion describes the fluid buildup, not the condition that caused it.
Also called: Fluid On The Joint, Joint Swelling
The lumbar spine is the lower section of the back, located between the thoracic spine and the sacrum. It contains vertebrae, discs, joints, nerves, and supporting muscles. This region helps support body weight, allows bending and twisting, and can produce back or leg symptoms when nearby nerves become irritated or compressed.
Also called: Lower Spine
A medial branch is a small nerve branch that carries pain signals from the facet joints of the spine. These nerves do not control muscle movement or feeling in the arms and legs. Doctors may target a medial branch with a local anesthetic to learn whether a facet joint contributes to back or neck pain.
Also called: Medial Branch Nerve
A Muscle Spasm is an involuntary tightening of a muscle that can cause pain, stiffness, or limited movement. The tightening may affect a small area, such as a neck muscle, or a larger muscle group in the back or leg. Muscle spasms may follow strain, irritation, poor posture, or other painful conditions.
Also called: Muscle Cramp
A Nerve Conduction Study is a test that checks how well electrical signals travel through peripheral nerves. Small electrodes record the signal after a mild electrical pulse reaches the nerve. The results can show slowed or weakened nerve function, which may support evaluation of symptoms such as numbness, tingling, burning, or weakness.
Also called: NCS, Nerve Conduction Test
A nerve root is a bundle of nerve fibers that leaves the spinal cord through an opening between the vertebrae. Each nerve root carries movement and feeling signals between the spinal cord and a specific area of the body. Pressure or irritation in the neck can cause pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness along that nerve's path.
Also called: Spinal Nerve Root
Neuropathic Pain is pain caused by damaged, irritated, or poorly functioning nerves. The pain may feel burning, electric, sharp, or tingling. It can follow an injury, nerve compression, disease, or another condition that affects nerve signals. Symptoms may occur even when the original injury looks healed.
Also called: Nerve Pain
Nociceptive Pain is pain caused by actual or threatened injury to body tissues. Specialized nerve endings detect signals from sources such as inflamed joints, strained muscles, or damaged skin. The signals travel through the nervous system to the brain, which recognizes them as pain and helps guide protective movement.
Also called: Tissue Injury Pain
A pain diary is a written or digital record of pain symptoms over time. You may note when pain starts, where it occurs, how strong it feels, and what affects it. The record can also include sleep, food, activity, medicine use, and other details that help show symptom patterns.
Also called: Pain Journal
A pain scale is a tool that helps you describe how strong your pain feels. It gives clinicians a shared way to discuss symptoms, track changes, and compare your report over time. Your rating reflects your personal experience, so the same number can mean different things to different people.
Also called: Pain Rating Scale
Paresthesia is an unusual skin sensation that may feel like tingling, prickling, burning, or numbness. The sensation can occur when a nerve is irritated, compressed, or affected by another condition. In lumbar radiculopathy, paresthesia may travel from the lower back into the buttock, leg, or foot along a nerve path.
Also called: Pins And Needles, Tingling
Peripheral Neuropathy is a nerve disorder that affects nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. These nerves carry signals between the body and the central nervous system. Damage may change how you feel pain, touch, heat, or movement. Common symptoms include burning, tingling, numbness, sensitivity, or weakness in the hands or feet.
Also called: Peripheral Nerve Disease
Radiculitis is inflammation or irritation around a spinal nerve root. The condition can cause sharp, burning, or electric pain that travels from the back into an arm or leg. Radiculitis may also cause tingling, numbness, or weakness in the nerve root’s usual path. Doctors assess its cause before choosing treatment.
Also called: Nerve Root Inflammation
Referred Pain is discomfort felt in one body area even though the source lies elsewhere. Shared nerve pathways can cause the brain to misread the pain signal. For example, a problem near the neck may be felt in the shoulder. The painful area may be healthy, so evaluation must consider nearby structures.
Also called: Radiating Pain
A sacroiliac joint is the connection between the sacrum at the base of the spine and the ilium of the pelvis. Each person has a joint on each side. These joints support the upper body, transfer force between the spine and legs, and allow small movements during walking, standing, and bending.
Also called: SI Joint
Spinal Cord Stimulator is an implanted medical device that sends mild electrical signals near the spinal cord to change pain signals before they reach the brain. The system includes thin leads and a small generator. Doctors may consider it for certain ongoing nerve pain, including pain that continues after surgery.
Also called: SCS
The sympathetic nervous system is a part of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for action. It can raise alertness, change blood flow, increase heart activity, and affect sweating. In pain care, abnormal sympathetic signals may help maintain certain pain conditions, including complex regional pain syndrome.
Also called: SNS
A Tension Headache is a common headache linked to pressure, tightness, or aching around the forehead, temples, scalp, or neck. The discomfort often feels steady and pressing, not throbbing. Muscle tension, stress, poor posture, eye strain, or jaw clenching may contribute. A tension headache differs from migraine in its usual pattern and related symptoms.
Also called: Tension-Type Headache
