Adjustment
Any chiropractic therapeutic procedure that ultimately uses controlled force, leverage,
direction, amplitude and velocity, which is applied to specific joints and adjacent
tissues. Chiropractors commonly use such procedures to influence joint and
neurophysiological function.

Arthritis
The word arthritis actually means joint inflammation. The term arthritis is used to describe more than 100 rheumatic diseases and conditions that affect joints, the tissues which surround the joint and other connective tissue. The pattern, severity and location of symptoms can vary depending on the specific form of the disease. Typically, rheumatic conditions are characterized by pain and stiffness in and around one or more joints. The symptoms can develop gradually or suddenly. Certain rheumatic conditions can also involve the immune system and various internal organs of the body.

Biomechanics
The study of structural, functional and mechanical aspects of human motion. It is
concerned mainly with external forces of either a static or dynamic nature, dealing
with human movement.

Chiropractic
A health care profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of
disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system and the effects of these disorders on
general health. There is an emphasis on manual techniques, including joint adjustment
and/or manipulation, with a particular focus on subluxations.

Fixation
The state whereby an articulation has become fully or partially immobilized in a
certain position, restricting physiological movement.

Joint manipulation
A manual procedure involving directed thrust to move a joint past the physiological
range of motion, without exceeding the anatomical limit.

Joint mobilization
A manual procedure without thrust, during which a joint normally remains within its
physiological range of motion.

Neuromusculoskeletal
Pertaining to the musculoskeletal and nervous systems in relation to disorders that
manifest themselves in both the musculoskeletal and nervous systems, including
disorders of a biomechanical or functional nature.

Palpation
(1) The act of feeling with the hands. (2) The application of variable manual pressure
through the surface of the body for the purpose of determining the shape, size,
consistency, position, inherent motility and health of the tissues beneath.

Posture
(1) The attitude of the body. (2) The relative arrangement of the parts of the body.
Good posture is that state of muscular and skeletal balance that protects the supporting structures of the body against injury or progressive deformity irrespective of the attitude (erect, lying, squatting, stooping) in which the structures are working or
resting.

Scoliosis
A condition of lateral curvature of the spine, which may have just one curve or primary and secondary compensatory curves and be fixed or mobile and which may rotate.

Spinal manipulative therapy
Includes all procedures where the hands or mechanical devices are used to mobilize,
adjust, manipulate, apply traction, massage, stimulate or otherwise influence the spine
and paraspinal tissues with the aim of influencing the patient's health.

Subluxation
A lesion or dysfunction in a joint or motion segment in which alignment, movement
integrity and/or physiological function are altered, although contact between joint
surfaces remains intact. It is essentially a functional entity, which may influence
biomechanical and neural integrity. A theoretical model and description of the motion segment dysfunction, which incorporates the interaction of pathological changes in nerve, muscle, ligamentous, vascular and connective tissue.

Tenosynovitis
Is inflammation of the thin mucinous membrane around the tendons. Part of the process of inflammation is swelling, and this compresses the nerve. Swelling of this membrane is the final common pathway for most cases of carpal tunnel, whether caused idiopathically, through exposure, or medically.

Thrust
The sudden manual application of a controlled directional force upon a suitable part of
the patient, the delivery of which effects an adjustment.