Hypotonia Word Glossary
This is a list of some words that tend to come up when talking about Benign Congenital Hypotonia.
See below for the acronym/abbreviation glossary.
Also, see the
American Medical Association Medical Glossary
- Admissions, Review and Dismissal
- A meeting where an IEP (Individual Education Plan) is drafted with
parents and school officials
- ankle-foot orthoses
- Typically, these are pieces of plastic worn behind the heel to
provide extra support for weak ankles.
- amyotonia
- deficiency of muscle tone
- benign
- Good, harmless, innocuous, not dangerous. In the context of hypotonia,
it implies "non-degenerative".
- biopsy
- The removal of a sample of body tissue for further medical examination.
- central core disease
- A specific myopathy whose primary symptom is congenital hypotonia.
Similar to nemaline, but different in some of the details. Associated
with a disposition to malignant hyperthermia.
- clubfoot (or talipes equinovarus)
- consists or three combined deformities-
- foot is pointed downward and cannot get to 90 degrees
from the ankle (equinus)
- foot is turned in on heel (talipes)
- foot is bent inward at ankle (varus).
so what it looks like is a foot that is bent in at
the ankle and toes are pointed down and toward the midline.
- congenital
- Born with.
- CPK
- The name of both an enzyme and the test for that enzyme. The
test can reveal if there is muscle damage happening.
- distal
- farther from the center of the body
- distrophy, distrophic
- Degenerative, wastes away, gets worse.
- Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
- A group of connective tissue diseases characterized by hypermobile
joints and soft, fragile skin.
See the Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome website.
- gastroesophagial reflux disease
- A long name for reflux.
- g-tube, ng-tube, j-tube
- Feeding tubes.
- Gower's maneuver
- A method of getting up from the floor distinguished by getting up
on all fours, then "walking" the hands up the legs until
the torso is upright.
- high arched palate
- A skeletal abnormality in which the roof of the mouth forms a very high arch,
rather than a gentle dome.
- hyperflexibility or hypermobility
- Exceptional flexibility of the joints, which is caused by loose (stretchable) muscles.
- hypertonia
- High muscle tone. Commonly seen in many forms of cerebral palsy.
- hypotonia
- Low muscle tone. Commonly seen in many forms of muscular dystrophy.
The exact relationship between low muscle tone and muscle weakness
is still unclear to me, though they seem closely related.
- malignant hyperthermia
- A condition whereby standard surgical anaesthetics will cause
a life-threatening rise in body temperature.
- mother from hell
- A mother who insists on her way at school,
therapy, or the doctor's office. Meant as a sort of women's
liberation/empowerment term.
- myopathy
- "myo" means "of the muscle" and "pathy"
means "pathology" or disease. A myopathy is any disease
of the muscle.
- nasopharyngeal reflux
- Reflux where the stomach content ends up in the nasal passage.
- nemaline
- A specific myopathy whose primary symptom is congenital hypotonia.
The name comes from the presence of rod-like structures
found in affected muscle tissues. The full name is typically given as
"Nemaline Rod-Body Myopathy"
- pectus excavatum
- sunken chest
- pes cavus
- high foot arches
- proximal
- nearer to the center of the body
- reflux
- When the contents of the stomach don't stay there.
- respiratory synchtial virus
- A nasty, sometimes fatal respiratory infection.
- scoliosis
- Any abnormal curvature of the spine.
- "W" sit
- Sitting with buttocks, knees, and ankles all flat on the floor,
but with the knees in front and the feet bent back to touch the sides
of the buttocks:
Hypotonia Acronym/Abbreviation Glossary
- AFO
- Ankle-Foot Orthoses
- ARD
- Admissions, Review and Dismissal
- AS
- Asperger's Syndrome -- a high functioning form of autism.
- BCH
- Benign Congenital Hypotonia
- BPD
- Broncho Pulmonary Dysplasia
- CK
- Creatine Kinase (see CPK in word glossary)
- CP
- Cerebral Palsy
- CPK
- Creatine Phosphokinase (see CPK in word glossary)
- CT
- A procedure that uses X-rays and computers to scan the body.
- dev ped
- developmental pediatrician
- EDS
- Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
- EEG
- electroencephalograph -- a an electrical recording of brain activity
- EKG or ECG
- electrocardiogram -- an electrical recording of the heart
- EMG
- electromyogram -- an electrical recording of muscle tissue
- GERD
- GastroEsophagial Reflux Disease, or simply
"reflux"
- IDEA
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
- IEP
- Individual Education Plan
- LD
- Learning Disabled/Disability/Disorder
- MD
- Muscular Dystrophy
- MFH
- Mother From Hell
- MRI
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging -- a way to scan the body using radio
waves and computers. It is non-invasive and does not involve
radiation.
- neuro
- neurologist
- NLD
- Non-verbal Learning Disorder
- OT/PT/ST
- Occupational, Physical, or Speech Therapy or Therapist
- PDD
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder -- all disorders on the autistic spectrum.
- PDD-NOS
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder -- Not Otherwise Specified
-- A PDD that doesn't fit into one of the standard sub-categories.
- P.E., or PhysEd
- Physical Education ("Gym class" in the states)
- ped
- pediatrician
- PROM
- Premature Rupture Of Membranes
- PWD
- Person With Disability
- RSV
- Respiratory Synchtial Virus
- SI
- Sensory Integration -- the way that all of the senses work
together, primarily referred to when indicating there are
problems in what are called the internal senses which
include the Proprioceptive sense, Vestibular sense, and
tactile sense.
- SID
- Sensory Integration Dysfunction
- sped
- Special Education
