CLIENT: It hurts when I do this!
MASSAGE THERAPIST: Then don’t do it!
| A-D | E-I | M-N | P-V |

Pain - an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.

Pain Threshold - the least experience of pain that a subject can recognize.

Pain Tolerance Level - the greatest level of pain that a subject is prepared to tolerate.

Palpable Taut Bands (Hypertonic muscle) - are rope or string-like taut muscle fibers around the trigger point. They are likeliest to occur at the edges of large muscles. They run in the direction of the fibers of the muscle.

Paraestesia or a Tingling Sensation - a classical sign of neurological abnormalities in the skin.

Paresthesia - An abnormal sensation, whether spontaneous or evoked.

Peripheral Neurogenic Pain - pain initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction or transitory perturbation in the peripheral nervous system.

Psychogenic Pain - pain that is “generated” by the mind and emotions.

Radiculalgia - pain along the distribution of one or more sensory nerve roots.  

Radiculopathy - A disturbance of function or pathologic change in one or more nerve roots.

Radiculitis - Inflammation of one or more nerve roots. This term does not apply unless inflammation is present.

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) - the most unpleasant and uncomfortable form of disabling chronic pain.

Scar tissue - tissue that results from healing of wounds; it is composed of collagenous fibers that will restrict normal elasticity of tissue involved.

Spondylogenic Dysfunction - when the joints of the spine are compressed or otherwise impaired and cause their own special trigger point-type pain or dysfunction.

Stress - the load and pressure placed upon the body for short periods of time from which the body can quickly return to normal once the stressor is removed. This brief extension beyond the body’s normal is the elastic limit and usually leads to strength and growth.

Strain - the pushing of body tissues beyond the elastic limit either gradually or suddenly. Stressors include such things as emotional trauma, accidents, pregnancy, lacking of certain nutrients, exposure to extremes of heat, sun or cold, working too hard.

Suffering - a state of emotional distress associated with events that threaten the biological and/or psychosocial integrity of the individual. Suffering often accompanies severe pain but can occur in its absence.

Tonus System Dysfunction - when overused muscles lose their ability to understand how to relax.

Trauma Reflex - a muscular act that often becomes a protective tension habit maintained as a learned response stored in the brain.

Trigger Point - A hypersensitive area or site in muscle or connective tissue usually associated with myofascial pain syndromes.

Visceral pain - pain that originates in the solid and hollow organs of the body.