Physiotherapy Licensing flashcards
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32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Type I muscle fibers
- Slow-twitch oxidative fibers with high fatigue resistance and low force output, suited to postural and endurance activity; recruited first at low loads.
- Length-tension relationship
- Active tension produced by a muscle is greatest near its resting length and decreases when the sarcomere is shortened or overstretched beyond optimal overlap.
- Hilton's law
- The nerve supplying a joint also supplies the muscles moving that joint and the skin over the distal insertions of those muscles.
- Upper motor neuron signs
- Spasticity, hyperreflexia, clonus, Babinski sign, and minimal atrophy indicate a lesion above the anterior horn cell in the central nervous system.
- Cardiac output formula
- Cardiac output equals heart rate multiplied by stroke volume; typical resting values are about four to eight liters per minute in adults.
- Lachman test
- Knee flexed about 20-30 degrees with anterior tibial translation assessed; high sensitivity for anterior cruciate ligament disruption.
- Manual muscle test grade 3
- The patient completes full active range against gravity but cannot tolerate added resistance; grades below three require gravity-eliminated positioning.
- C5 myotome and dermatome
- C5 myotome is shoulder abduction; C5 dermatome covers the lateral arm and is tested with light touch or pinprick.
- Spurling test
- Cervical extension, sidebending, and axial compression reproduce radicular arm pain, suggesting cervical nerve root compression.
- Berg Balance Scale cutoff
- A score below 45 out of 56 indicates increased fall risk in older adults; lower scores correspond to greater impairment.
- Red flags for referral
- Unexplained weight loss, night pain unrelieved by rest, fever, saddle anesthesia, bowel or bladder changes, or progressive neurological deficit warrant medical referral.
- Heart rate reserve method
- Target heart rate equals resting heart rate plus the intensity fraction times the difference between maximal and resting heart rate; maximal rate estimated as 220 minus age.
- PNF hold-relax
- Isometric contraction of the restricted muscle pattern for several seconds followed by relaxation and passive stretch into the newly available range.
- Ultrasound contraindications
- Avoid over the pregnant uterus, malignancy, pacemakers, eyes, growth plates, thrombophlebitis, and areas with impaired sensation or circulation.
- Joint mobilization grades I-II
- Small-amplitude oscillations performed before tissue resistance, used mainly for pain modulation and synovial fluid movement.
- Progressive overload principle
- Tissue adapts only when load exceeds habitual demand; load must increase gradually as capacity improves to sustain gains.
- Informed consent elements
- Disclosure of nature, risks, benefits, and alternatives, plus voluntary decision by a patient with capacity, documented before intervention.
- Scope of practice limit
- A therapist must refer when patient needs exceed personal competence, legal authority, or training, rather than practicing outside lawful boundaries.
- Confidentiality exceptions
- Disclosure without consent is limited to legal mandate, serious imminent harm, or authorized quality review, sharing only minimum necessary information.
- Negligence four elements
- Duty owed to the patient, breach of that duty, causation linking breach to injury, and actual damages must all be established.
- Orthostatic hypotension criteria
- A fall of at least 20 mmHg systolic or 10 mmHg diastolic within minutes of standing, often with dizziness; monitor before and after position change.
- Electrical stimulation contraindication
- Avoid in patients with pacemakers or electronic implants, over the heart, carotid sinus, pregnant uterus, malignancy, or areas of impaired sensation.
- Gait belt use
- A belt placed around the patient's waist allows the clinician to stabilize the trunk during transfers and ambulation without grasping the arms.
- Exercise termination signs
- Stop activity for chest pain, severe dyspnea, dizziness, pallor, diaphoresis, confusion, or oxygen saturation falling below 88 to 90 percent.
- Sensitivity definition
- Proportion of people with the condition who test positive; a highly sensitive test is useful for ruling out disease when negative.
- Specificity definition
- Proportion of people without the condition who test negative; a highly specific test is useful for ruling in disease when positive.
- Number needed to treat
- One divided by the absolute risk reduction; it estimates how many patients must be treated for one additional favorable outcome.
- Intention-to-treat analysis
- All randomized participants are analyzed in their assigned groups regardless of adherence, preserving randomization and limiting attrition bias.
- Positive predictive value
- Proportion of positive test results that are true positives; it rises as disease prevalence in the tested population increases.
- Internal validity
- The degree to which a study's design and conduct support causal conclusions by controlling bias, confounding, and measurement error.
- Evidence hierarchy
- Systematic reviews and randomized trials rank above cohort, case-control, and case series studies, with expert opinion lowest.
- Confidence interval interpretation
- A range of plausible values for the true effect; a 95 percent interval excluding the null value indicates statistical significance at alpha 0.05.