Dr. Allan Horowitz, published newspaper article, Richmond Hill Liberal, Copyright March 14, 1990

Dear readers:

            Today’s column will be
dedicated to a discussion on
terminology. Webster defines terminology as the “terms used
in a specific science or art.”

The terminology I want to
discuss today is the type
patients use when they are
trying to describe their body,
their pain or their disability.
Not everyone goes to school to
study anatomy, physiology,
neurology, pathology and so on.
But those of us who are
assigned to look after these
people have attended these
various classes and we have
become accustomed to the use
of certain terms.

I will be playing squash with
a friend of mine who is a
medical doctor. He will twist his
ankle and fall in a heap in the
corner of the court. I will ask
him where it hurts and he will
tell me that the lateral aspect is
very sore.

He will say this without thinking. It is just part of our
daily language. There is no
problem when he is talking to
me or when I am talking to
him.

FANCY WORDS

The problem arises when
someone with training is
talking to someone without.
They might think we are using
’big, fancy, medical words’ in
order to impress the patient. In
reality, we are using the words
we know and it just so happens
that these words are the best
ever ‘invented’ to describe what
we might be talking about.

If you bang your elbow and want to show the doctor where it is sore you will point and say ‘right here, on this bone.’ When the doctor wants to write a report on your elbow, or refer you for some treatment he
can’t draw a picture of your
elbow and put stars coming out
of the place you banged it.

CAN’T GRAB ELBOW


He can’t run over to the
therapist’s office and grab
his/her elbow and say “this
patient’s elbow hurts right
here.” He must write it down
using proper terminology.

He will write: “The patient
has a contusion of the lateral
epicondyle.” The therapist will
then know precisely where to
treat that patient.

So now I bring you a home
reference list so that you can
surprise, amaze, and hopefully
not confuse your doctor or
chiropractor next time you have
an injury.

Lateral: To the outside of the midline of a body part.

Medial: To the inside of the
midline.

Distal: Farther away from
the body part’s origin.

Proximal: Closer to the body
part’s origin.

Inferior: Underneath.

Superior: On top of.

Pronation: Turning over into
the prone position.

Supination: turning over into
the supine position.

Prone: Lying on your stomach.

Dorsal: On the back surface.

Ventral: On the front surface.

Palmar: The palm side of the
hand.

Plantar: The bottom of the
foot.

Flexion: The act of bending a
joint.

Extension: The act of
opening, or straightening a
joint.

Now some examples and you
will soon see why these terms
really do make life much easier.

The pain is on the lateral
aspect of my proximal thigh
that means the pain is in the
upper part of the thigh, towards
the outside, probably in the hip
area.

The pain is on the plantar
aspect of my left foot but only
when I try to dorsi flex the foot.
The pain then radiates more
proximally into the posterior
aspect of my calf. This means
this person is having pain on
the bottom of their foot, only
when they pull their foot up
(pull their toes up towards their
shin). The pain then travels up
into the back of their calf.

NOSE HURTS


The distal aspect of my
nose hurts whenever I lay
prone. This means that this
poor person has a pain in the
tip of his nose whenever he lies
on his stomach.

I think you get the idea.

Practice. Make up sentences
and try them on your friends.
Look smart. Look arrogant.
Amaze your doctor and
chiropractor. Just get your
terms down pat.

EMBARRASSING

You might make some
embarrassing mistakes if you
are not sure of what you say.
Your doctor might start
examining something he has no
business examining if you mix
up your terminology.

Next week I will continue
with this discussion and I will
go over some of the actual body
parts, what they are called and
how to describe your pain.