ABPTS NCS key terms

Damage to motor pathways above the anterior horn cell, producing increased tone, hyperreflexia, spasticity, Babinski sign, and loss of fine dexterity rather than muscle wasting.

Injury to the anterior horn cell, nerve root, or peripheral nerve, causing weakness, atrophy, fasciculations, hypotonia, and reduced or absent reflexes in the affected distribution.

Velocity-dependent increase in muscle tone resulting from hyperexcitable stretch reflexes after central nervous system damage, often accompanied by clasp-knife resistance and exaggerated tendon jerks.

Extension of the great toe with fanning of the other toes when the lateral sole is stroked, indicating corticospinal tract dysfunction in adults beyond infancy.

Nerve root dysfunction producing pain, sensory change, and myotomal weakness in a specific dermatomal pattern, commonly from disc herniation or foraminal narrowing.

The skin area supplied by sensory fibers of a single spinal nerve root, used to localize the level of neurologic injury during sensory examination.

The group of muscles innervated by a single spinal nerve root, tested manually to identify the segmental level of weakness.

Graded assessment of voluntary strength using resistance and gravity positioning, typically scored 0 to 5, to document weakness and track change over time.

A six-point clinical rating of resistance to passive movement, used to quantify spasticity severity and monitor response to intervention.

A 0 to 4+ ordinal scale describing reflex response amplitude, where 2+ is typical, absent responses suggest lower motor neuron loss, and hyperreflexia suggests upper motor neuron involvement.

Systematic testing of the twelve cranial nerves for symmetry, sensation, strength, and reflexes to localize lesions in the brainstem, cerebellum, or peripheral nerves.

A brainstem-mediated reflex that stabilizes gaze during head movement by driving compensatory eye motion; tested with the head thrust maneuver and targeted in vestibular rehabilitation.

A positional maneuver that moves the patient from sitting to supine with head turned, provoking nystagmus and vertigo to confirm posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Brief vertigo triggered by head position change when displaced otoconia enter a semicircular canal; treated with canalith repositioning maneuvers.

A sequential head and body positioning procedure that guides displaced canaliths out of the posterior semicircular canal to relieve benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Reduced or absent function of one or both vestibular organs or nerves, producing imbalance, oscillopsia, and gaze instability that is managed with habituation and gaze-stability exercises.

A 3-to-15 score combining eye opening, verbal response, and motor response that grades level of consciousness after brain injury and guides early prognosis.

An eight-level scale describing cognitive and behavioral recovery after traumatic brain injury, from no response through purposeful, appropriate behavior.

States such as coma, vegetative state, and minimally conscious state in which awareness or wakefulness is impaired; differentiation informs prognosis and goal setting.

Sudden focal neurologic deficit from infarction or hemorrhage in the brain; ischemic versus hemorrhagic type affects medical management and rehabilitation timing.

The time limit after ischemic stroke onset during which clot-dissolving medication may be given, commonly up to 4.5 hours; timely recognition speeds referral.

An immune-mediated demyelinating disease of the central nervous system producing relapsing or progressive sensory, motor, visual, and bladder symptoms; fatigue and heat sensitivity are common.

Transient worsening of neurologic symptoms with increased body temperature, such as during exercise or hot weather, which resolves with cooling.

A progressive neurodegenerative disorder of dopamine-producing neurons causing bradykinesia, rigidity, resting tremor, and postural instability responsive to levodopa.

A brief inability to initiate or continue walking, often at turns or doorways, that increases fall risk in Parkinson disease and responds to cueing strategies.

Fluctuation in motor function during long-term levodopa therapy, with predictable or unpredictable periods of good mobility and worsening symptoms.

A progressive motor neuron disease combining upper and lower motor neuron signs with weakness and atrophy, typically sparing sensation and cognition.

An acute immune-mediated polyneuropathy causing ascending symmetric weakness and areflexia, often after infection; monitoring respiratory capacity and autonomic stability is essential.

Serial measurement of forced or slow vital capacity to detect respiratory muscle weakness in neuromuscular disease and guide escalation of care.

The nervous system's capacity to reorganize synaptic connections and cortical maps in response to practice, injury, or experience, forming the rationale for task-specific training.

Repeated practice of meaningful, functionally relevant activities that drives motor learning and cortical reorganization more effectively than rote exercise.

Intensive practice with the more affected upper limb while restraint limits the less affected limb, used in selected patients with hemiparesis to reduce learned nonuse.

Suppression of a paretic limb after stroke because unsuccessful attempts are punished, reinforcing reliance on the intact limb; overcome by forced-use interventions.

Use of auditory, visual, or tactile signals such as metronome beats or laser lines to improve gait initiation and step length in basal ganglia disorders.

Shoulder pain after stroke from subluxation, altered tone, or soft tissue injury; prevented with positioning, support, and careful handling of the paretic arm.

Structured pacing of activity, rest breaks, and energy conservation teaching to reduce activity-limiting fatigue in neurologic conditions such as multiple sclerosis.

Brief standardized assessment such as the Timed Up and Go or Berg Balance Scale to identify patients needing multifactorial fall prevention.

A 14-item performance measure scored 0 to 56 that rates static and dynamic balance in adults; lower scores indicate greater fall risk.

Time in seconds to rise from a chair, walk three meters, turn, and return; a quick screen of mobility and fall risk in older and neurologic populations.

The reliability, validity, and responsiveness of an assessment tool, which determine whether it can detect real change and support evidence-based decisions.

The smallest change in an outcome score that a patient would perceive as meaningful, used to interpret whether treatment effects matter in practice.

A hierarchy ranking study designs by susceptibility to bias, from systematic reviews and randomized trials at the top to expert opinion at the bottom, guiding clinical decisions.

A study in which participants are randomly assigned to intervention or control groups to reduce bias and support causal conclusions about treatment effect.

The process of disclosing risks, benefits, and alternatives so a patient can voluntarily agree to examination or intervention; it is an ongoing ethical and legal obligation.

The legally defined activities a clinician is licensed to perform, which determines when consultation, referral, or co-management with another provider is required.

Coordinated teamwork among health professionals sharing goals and information to optimize patient outcomes, including timely referral for medical or surgical concerns.

Structured teaching of self-management, home exercise, safety, and health behaviors tailored to health literacy, culture, and readiness to change.

Activities that help patients maintain or improve wellness, such as physical activity counseling, fall prevention, and risk-factor modification, beyond treating existing disease.