HSC Health and Movement Science Year 12 Full Course Glossary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key syllabus definitions across health status, healthcare systems, training principles, physiology, and sports medicine for Year 12 Health and Movement Science.

Mortality

Death, or how many people die from a cause, often expressed as a rate per $100{,}000$ people.

Morbidity

Illness or disease burden, representing how many people are living with a condition.

Incidence

The number of new cases of a condition in a given period.

Prevalence

The number of all existing cases (new plus ongoing) of a condition at a specific point in time or over a defined period.

Epidemiology

The study of how often diseases occur in populations, who gets them, and why.

Determinants of health

Factors that influence health, including broad features of society, environmental factors, socioeconomic characteristics, health behaviours, and biomedical factors.

Potentially avoidable deaths

Deaths that could have been prevented through effective prevention or timely healthcare treatment.

Life expectancy

The average number of years a newborn is expected to live if current death rates continue.

Health literacy

The ability to find, understand, and use health information to make informed decisions.

Inequities

Unfair and avoidable differences in health status between population groups where determinants cluster unfavourably.

Closing the Gap

The national agreement between Australian governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations establishing targets to improve health outcomes, including closing the life expectancy gap by $2031$.

ACCHOs (Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations)

Health services initiated, planned, and governed by local Aboriginal communities to ensure health care is culturally safe.

Underlying cause of death

The primary condition or disease that initiated the sequence of events leading directly to death.

Involved in death

A condition or disease listed anywhere on the death certificate as contributing to mortality.

Age-standardised rate

A statistical rate adjusted to eliminate the effect of differences in population age structures, allowing fair comparisons across groups.

Healthy ageing

The ongoing process of maintaining functional ability to allow older people to do what they value, encompassing physical, mental, and social wellbeing.

Person-centred care

An approach to healthcare that respects the individual's values, needs, and preferences, involving them directly in decisions and treating the whole person rather than just the disease.

Health expenditure

The total financial expenditure on health goods and services, measured as aggregate dollars, per person, and as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Complementary healthcare

Health products, practices, and therapies that fall outside conventional evidence-based medicine and are used alongside conventional care.

Critical health consumer

A consumer who actively questions and evaluates health information, claims, products, and services before using or purchasing them.

Digital health

The application of digital and communication technologies to deliver, manage, coordinate, and connect health information and healthcare services.

Big data

Extremely large and complex digital datasets analysed computationally to identify trends, patterns, and associations in health.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

A universal collection of $17$ goals adopted by all UN member states in $2015$ as part of the $2030$ Agenda to eradicate poverty and promote health and equity.

Built environment

The human-made surroundings, such as buildings, streets, public transport networks, and green spaces, that influence physical activity, safety, and wellbeing.

Pre-exercise questionnaire

A preliminary screening tool administered prior to physical activity that screens for diagnosed medical conditions, symptoms, injuries, and lifestyle factors to identify safety risks.

Contraindication

A specific health condition, injury, or symptom that makes a particular exercise, movement, or treatment unsafe to perform.

Yo-Yo test

An intermittent aerobic fitness test involving repeated $20\,\text{m}$ shuttle runs at progressively increasing speeds with designated short active recovery periods.

Wingate test

A laboratory-based anaerobic fitness assessment consisting of $30\text{ seconds}$ of all-out, maximal cycling against high mechanical resistance.

Progressive overload

The training principle that requires the training stimulus (such as resistance, sets, repetitions, frequency, or duration) to be progressively increased as physiological adaptation occurs.

Training thresholds

The minimum and maximum intensity boundaries required to induce specific aerobic or anaerobic physiological adaptations.

Reversibility

The principle of training establishing that physiological adaptations and fitness gains diminish when regular training is discontinued or significantly reduced.

Specificity

The principle of training establishing that physiological adaptations are specific to the energy systems, muscle groups, and movement patterns trained.

Stroke volume (SV)

The volume of blood pumped from the left ventricle of the heart with each individual contraction or heartbeat.

Cardiac output (CO)

The total volume of blood pumped by the heart per minute, determined by the equation $CO = HR \times SV$.

Muscle hypertrophy

An increase in the total cross-sectional area and size of skeletal muscle fibres resulting from resistance training and increased muscle protein synthesis.

Tapering

A planned reduction in overall training volume while maintaining intensity for approximately $1\text{ to }3\text{ weeks}$ leading up to major competition to optimize recovery and replenish glycogen stores.

Inverted-U hypothesis

A sports psychology model stating that athletic performance is optimized at a moderate level of arousal, whereas both under-arousal and over-arousal degrade performance.

Carbohydrate loading

A sports nutrition strategy involving increased carbohydrate consumption for $24\text{ to }48\text{ hours}$ before prolonged endurance events exceeding $90\text{ minutes}$ to maximize liver and muscle glycogen storage.

Biomechanics

The study and application of mechanical laws and principles, including forces, levers, and motion, to the analysis of human physical movement.

DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)

Muscle discomfort, stiffness, and pain that typically manifests and peaks $24\text{ to }72\text{ hours}$ following unaccustomed or strenuous exercise.

TOTAPS

A progressive on-field procedure for assessing athletic injuries: Talk, Observe, Touch, Active movement, Passive movement, and Skill test.

RICER

An immediate acute soft tissue injury management protocol: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, and Referral.

Strict liability

An anti-doping legal rule stating that an athlete is held strictly accountable for any prohibited substance identified in their bodily specimen, regardless of intent, fault, or negligence.