Guide to Physical Therapist Practice. American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Alexandria, VA 1999, 1997.

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Activities of Daily Living (ADL) - Self care, communication and mobility skills, (i.e. bed mobility, transfers, ambulation, dressing, grooming, bathing, eating and toileting) required for independence in everyday living.

Back School ~ A Structured educational program about low back problems (usually offered to a group of patients/clients.)

Body Mechanics~ The interrelationship of the muscles and joints as they maintain or adjust posture in response to environmental forces.

Disability ~ The inability to engage in a specific, gender related and sex-specific roles in a particular social context and physical environment.

Diagnosis ~ Both the process and the end result of evaluated information obtained from the examination, which the physical therapist then organizes into defined clusters, syndromes or categories to help determine the most appropriate intervention strategies.

Discharge ~ The process of discontinuing interventions included in a single episode of care, occurring when the anticipated goals and desired outcomes have been met.

Other Indicators for Discharge:   The patient declines to continue care, the patient is unable to continue to progress toward goals because of medical or psychological complications, or the physical therapist determines that the patient will no longer benefit from physical therapy.

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Educational Programs ~ Programs designed to increase awareness and decrease the likelihood of sustaining an injury. Educational programs can be provided at different levels for the patient, employee or management.

Electrical Stimulation ~ Intervention through the application of electricity.

Ergonomics ~ The relationship among the worker, the work that is done, the tasks and activities inherit in that work and the environment in which the work is performed using scientific and engineering principles to improve the safety, efficiency and quality of movement involved in that work.

Evaluation ~ A dynamic process in which the physical therapist makes clinical judgments based on data gathered during the examination

Examination ~ The process of obtaining a history, performing relative system reviews and selecting and administering specific tests and measurements to obtain data.

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Function ~ The activities identified by an individual as essential to support physical, social and psychological well-being and to create a personal sense of meaningful living.

Functional Capacity Evaluation ~ Examination designed to identify impairments, functional limitations, etc. in physical function resulting from injury, disease or other causes. This information is utilized to determine prognosis and help determine appropriate intervention.

Functional Limitation ~ Restriction of the ability to perform a physical action, activity or task in an efficient, typically expected, efficient or competent manner.

Functional Muscle Testing ~ A performance-based muscle assessment in particular positions stimulating functional tasks and activities and usually under specific test conditions.

Gait ~ The manner in which a person walks, characterized by rhythm, cadence, step, stride and speed.

Goniometry ~ Measurement of the angle of a joint or a series of joints.

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Impairment ~ A loss or abnormality of physiological, psychological or anatomical structure or function.

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) ~ Activities such as shopping, cooking, home chores, heavy household shores, managing money, etc. that are important components of maintaining independent living.

Intervention ~ Purposeful and skilled interaction of the physical therapist with the patient and if appropriate, with other individuals involved in the care of the patient, using various physical therapy methods and techniques to produce changes in the condition that are consistent with the diagnosis and prognosis.

Iontophoresis ~ Introduction of ions into tissues by means of current.

Job-Site Analysis ~ A review of critical job demands and how they might be modified to decrease or prevent future injuries, which could greatly decrease the amount of employee injuries, lost workdays and medical costs.

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Manipulation ~ A passive therapeutic movement, usually of small amplitude and high velocity at the end of the available range of motion.

Manual Therapy ~ A broad group of skilled hand movements used by the physical therapist to mobilize soft tissues and joints for the purpose of modulating pain, increasing range of motion, reducing or eliminating soft tissue inflammation, inducing relaxation, improving contractile and non-contractile tissue extensibility.

Mechanical Modality ~ A broad group of agents that use distraction, approximation or compression to produce a therapeutic effect.

Mobilization ~ A passive therapeutic movement at the end of the available range of motion at variable amplitudes and speed

Modality ~ A broad group of agents that may include thermal, acoustic, radiant, chemical or electric energy to produce physiological changes in tissues for therapeutic purposes.

Outcomes ~ Outcomes are the result of patient management. They relate to remediation of function, limitation(s) and disability.

Outcomes Analysis ~ A systematic examination of patient outcomes in relation to selected patient variables (i.e. sex, diagnosis, interventions performed.) Outcomes analysis may be used in quality assessment, economic analysis of practice and other processes.

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Physical Agent ~ A form of thermal, acoustic or radiant energy that is applied to tissues in a systematic manner to achieve a therapeutic effect.

Physical Function ~ A fundamental component of health status describing the state of those sensory and motor skills necessary for mobility, work and recreation.

Physical Therapist ~ A person who is a graduate of an accredited physical therapy educational program and obtains a license to practice physical therapy by successfully passing a state examination.

Physical Therapy Assistant ~ A person who is a graduate of an accredited physical therapy assistant educational program and who successfully obtains a license by passing a state examination. The PTA assists the physical therapist in the provision of physical therapy. The physical therapy assistant may perform physical therapy procedures and related tests that have been selected and delegated by the supervising physical therapist.

Physical Therapy Aide ~ a non-licensed worker, trained under the direction of a physical therapist, who performs designated routine physical therapy tasks.

Prognosis ~ The determination of the level of optimal improvement that might be attained by the patient and the amount of time required reaching that level.

Proprioception ~ The level of stimuli from within the body (i.e. muscles and tendons;) includes positions sense (the awareness of the joints at rest) and kinesthesia (the awareness of movement.)

Range of Motion(ROM) ~ The space, distance or angle through which movement occurs at a joint or a series of joints.

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Strength ~ Force generating capacity of muscles.

Tests and Measures ~ Specific standardized methods and techniques used to gather data about the patient after the history and systems review have been performed.

Therapeutic Exercise ~ A broad range of activities intended to improve strength, range of motion (including muscle length,) cardiovascular fitness or flexibility and or to otherwise improve a person's functional capacity.

Traction ~ The therapeutic use of manual or mechanical tension created by a pulling force to produce a combination of distraction and gliding to relieve pain and increase tissue flexibility.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation(TENS) ~ The use of electrical energy to stimulate cutaneous and peripheral nerves via electrodes on the skin surface.

Treatment ~ The sum of all interventions provided by the physical therapist to a patient during an episode of care.


Ultrasound ~ A therapeutic intervention using high-frequency sound waves to produce heat.

Pulsed Ultrasound: The application of therapeutic ultrasound using predetermined interrupted frequencies.

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Visual Analog Scale ~ A tool used in a pain examination that allows the patient to indicate degree of pain by pointing to a visual representation of pain intensity (i.e. 0-10 on a scale of 10.)

Work Conditioning ~ An intensive, work-related, goal oriented conditioning program-designed specifically to restore, systemic neuromusculoskeletal functions (i.e. strength, endurance, movement, flexibility, or motor control) and cardiopulmonary functions. The objective of the work-conditioning program is to restore physical capacity and function to enable the patient to return to work.

Work Hardening ~ Highly structured, goal oriented, individualized treatment program designed to return the patient to work. Work hardening programs use real or simulated work activities designed to restore physical, behavioral and vocational functions. Work hardening addresses issues of productivity, safety, physical tolerances and work behaviors.

Work Reconditioning ~ Specific job related rehabilitation designed to stimulate the physical demands of the job with a gradual progression in weight/resistance and level of difficulty to prepare the employee to meet the physical demands of the job and decrease the chance of recurrence.

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