Physical Therapy Board Review and Kinesiology

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering anatomical, kinesiological, orthopedic, and neurological examination concepts from physical therapy practice and board review questions.

Sternoclavicular Joint

The only joint through which the upper extremity articulates directly with and attaches to the axial trunk.

Gluteus Maximus

A powerful extensor of the hip utilized when forceful extension is required, and a lateral rotator of the extended thigh that loses rotational power when the hip is flexed.

Work Hardening Program

A work-oriented, job-specific rehabilitation program designed to simulate or duplicate actual job tasks while addressing physical conditioning (strengthening, endurance, coordination), functional capacity, and vocational or behavioral needs.

Fabere Test

A provocative clinical test (also known as Patrick's test) used to detect pathology in the hip and sacroiliac joint, where reproduction of inguinal pain indicates hip joint or surrounding soft tissue pathology.

Shunt Muscle

A muscle with a long lever arm (exemplified by the brachioradialis) whose primary mechanical effect is stabilizing and compressing the joint rather than exerting a rotatory action.

Forward Head Posture

A postural deviation characterized by adaptive shortening of the cervical spine extensors, upper trapezius, and levator scapulae muscles.

Choroid Plexuses

Vascular capillary networks covered by cuboidal or columnar epithelial cells located within brain ventricles that synthesize cerebrospinal fluid.

Active and Passive Insufficiency (Grip)

The biomechanical limitation where maximum grip strength decreases when the wrist is flexed due to passive insufficiency of the finger extensors alongside active insufficiency of the finger flexors.

Klumpke's Palsy

A lower brachial plexus palsy resulting from injury to the $C_8$ and $T_1$ spinal nerve roots.

Posterior Ankle Stop

A mechanical stop incorporated into a short leg orthosis to prevent plantarflexion in patients presenting with foot drop.

Lysosomes

Vesicular cytoplasmic organelles containing hydrolytic enzymes that digest and eliminate unwanted cellular debris, damaged structures, and foreign pathogens.

Modified Thomas Test

A supine test assessing hip flexor flexibility where normal range is defined as $80^\top$ of knee flexion and $10^\top$ of hip extension relative to a pelvis stabilized in approximately $10^\top$ of posterior tilt.

Force Couple

The synergistic action of two or more muscles pulling in different anatomical directions to produce coordinated rotation of a joint, such as the trapezius and serratus anterior during scapular upward rotation.

Spiral-Reverse Turn

A bandaging technique utilized to accommodate progressive changes in limb circumference, such as tapering or widening body segments.

Phonophoresis

The therapeutic application of continuous ultrasound combined with a drug-impregnated medium to drive intact pharmacological molecules (e.g., hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, or lidocaine) percutaneously into target tissues.

Purkinje Cells

Large projection neurons residing in the cerebellar cortex whose long efferent axons project to and synapse with deep cerebellar nuclei or vestibular nuclei.

Serratus Anterior

A flat muscle originating from the anterolateral border of the upper eight or nine ribs and passing posteriorly beneath the scapula to insert onto its medial border.

Chorda Tympani

A peripheral branch of cranial nerve VII ($\text{CN VII}$) that conducts special sensory taste fibers from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue.

Hallux Rigidus

A painful stiffness or degenerative arthrosis of the first metatarsophalangeal joint, indicated on footwear examination by rigid, markedly transverse creases across the forepart of the shoe.

Scapulohumeral Rhythm

The kinematic coordination of shoulder elevation where, beyond the initial $30^\top$ of abduction, motion proceeds at a $2:1$ ratio ($10^\top$ of glenohumeral motion for every $5^\top$ of scapulothoracic rotation).

Vital Capacity

The total maximum volume of air exhaled following maximum inhalation, calculated mathematically as the sum of Inspiratory Reserve Volume, Tidal Volume, and Expiratory Reserve Volume.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

A neurovascular compression disorder involving the brachial plexus and subclavian vessels between the cervical spine/clavicle and first rib, causing distal paresthesias, sensation of the arm 'falling asleep', and vascular changes.

Tenosynovitis

A repetitive trauma or strain disorder characterized by inflammation of a tendon and its surrounding synovial sheath.

Brachial Artery

The principal arterial conduit of the arm that descends along the medial side of the humerus in direct anatomical proximity to the median nerve before reaching the cubital fossa.

Chorea

A hyperkinetic movement disorder associated with pathology of the corpus striatum, characterized by involuntary, irregular, rapid, non-stereotyped flowing contractions and facial grimacing.

End Organs of Ruffini

Encapsulated mechanoreceptive and cutaneous sensory receptors that histologically function to perceive skin stretch and sustained warmth.

Ataxia

An impairment of voluntary movement and coordination resulting from pathology in the cerebellum, spinocerebellar pathways, dorsal columns, or vestibular and pontine systems.

Internal Carotid Artery

The major cerebral artery giving off the ophthalmic branch and terminating into the anterior and middle cerebral arteries to supply the majority of the cerebral hemisphere.

Fibrillation

Spontaneous, unsynchronized, fine subclinical twitches of individual denervated muscle fibers following the loss of motor innervation, generating no observable gross motor movement.

Soleus

A tonic, anti-gravity plantarflexor muscle of the deep calf possessing a high percentage of slow-twitch fatigue-resistant fibers, active during quiet standing regardless of knee flexion position.

Face Validity

A subjective psychometric measure assessing whether an instrument or examination appears on its surface to measure the constructs it is designed to measure.

Dermatome

A well-defined cutaneous strip of skin receiving primary sensory innervation from the dorsal afferent roots of a single spinal nerve pair.

Hemiballismus

A severe unilateral movement disorder presenting with violent, flinging, choreiform movements of the limbs, resulting from a localized contralateral lesion in the subthalamic nucleus.

Closed-Chain Subtalar Pronation

A triplanar weight-bearing kinematic complex composed of calcaneal eversion, talar adduction, and talar plantarflexion.

Chopart Joint

A surgical amputation and anatomical demarcation at the transverse tarsal line, comprising the talonavicular and calcaneocuboid articulations.

Genu Valgum

A frontal plane lower extremity deformity (knock-knee) marked by a medial tibiofemoral angle of less than $170^\top$ during unilateral weight-bearing stance.

Tunnel of Guyon

An anatomical canal bordered by the pisiform, hook of the hamate, and pisohamate ligament through which the ulnar nerve and ulnar artery pass into the hand.

Pacinian Corpuscles

Rapidly adapting encapsulated cutaneous and deep mechanoreceptors sensitive to high-frequency vibration and transient pressure stimuli.

Buck's Extension Traction

A non-invasive longitudinal skin traction technique applied to the lower extremity to temporarily immobilize hip and femur fractures or reduce contractures.

Tibialis Posterior

The deepest muscle of the superficial/deep posterior leg compartment that inverts the subtalar joint, supports the medial longitudinal arch, and assists in ankle plantarflexion.

Brown-Séquard Syndrome

An incomplete spinal cord hemisection characterized by ipsilateral loss of motor control (corticospinal) and proprioception/vibration (dorsal column), with contralateral loss of pain and temperature (spinothalamic).

Static Stretch

A therapeutic stretching protocol where a targeted muscle is elongated slowly to its end-range tolerance short of acute pain and sustained stationary at that maximum length.

Prime Mover

The primary muscle (agonist) directly responsible for generating the principal force required to execute a specific anatomical movement.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

A progressive, fatal neurodegenerative pathology causing selective death of both upper and lower motor neurons in the spinal cord, brainstem motor nuclei, and cerebral cortex without primary sensory involvement.

Retinacular Test

A diagnostic maneuver to distinguish contracture of the distal interphalangeal ($\text{DIP}$) joint capsule from tightness of the oblique retinacular ligaments by assessing passive $\text{DIP}$ flexion with the $\text{PIP}$ joint flexed versus neutral.

H-Zone

The central Pale zone within the A-band of a striated muscle sarcomere composed exclusively of thick myosin filaments lacking overlapping thin actin filaments.

Association Fibers

Myelinated axon bundles within cerebral white matter that interconnect different cortical regions within the same cerebral hemisphere.

Gyrus

A rounded ridge, fold, or outward convolution on the cerebral cortex bounded by sulcal furrows, serving to expand total cortical surface area.

Sorensen Test

An isometric holding endurance test evaluating the duration a patient can keep their unsupported upper torso horizontally extended, serving as an indicator of trunk extensor fatigue and low back pain risk.

Venous Pump

A physiological venous return mechanism in the lower limbs driven by intramuscular pressure changes during muscle contractions that squeeze deep veins while one-way valve leaflets prevent backward flow.

Adson Test

A thoracic outlet vascular test where obliteration or dampening of the radial pulse upon cervical extension and head rotation toward the tested side during deep inspiration indicates subclavian artery compression.

Radiocarpal Joint

The proximal wrist articulation established between the distal biconcave surface of the radius (and triangular fibrocartilage complex) and the convex proximal articular surfaces of the scaphoid and lunate bones.