Medical Acupuncture Glossary of Terms

1. Acupuncture Pictures Slideshow
2. Take the Happiness Quiz!
3. 15 Immune Boosting Foods Pictures Slideshow

Acupuncture: The practice of inserting needles into the body to reduce pain or induce anes...

Acute: Of abrupt onset, in reference to a disease. Acute often also connotes an illness th...

Addiction: An uncontrollable craving, seeking, and use of a substance such as alcohol or a...

Adrenal gland: A small gland located on top of the kidney. The adrenal glands produce horm...

Alternative medicine: Healing arts not taught in traditional Western medical schools that ...

American Medical Association: The AMA. The AMA's mission statement proclaims:

Anatomy: The study of human or animal form, by observation or examination of the living be...

Antagonist: A substance that acts against and blocks an action. Antagonist is the opposite...

Anticoagulant: An agent that is used to prevent the formation of blood clots. Anticoagulan...

Antidepressant: Anything, and especially a drug, used to prevent or treat depression.

Appendectomy: Removal by surgery of the appendix, the small worm-like appendage of the co...

Appendicitis: Inflammation of the appendix, usually associated with infection of the appen...

Asthma: A common lung disorder in which inflammation causes the bronchi to swell and narro...

Auricular: Of or pertaining to the outer ear, or to something else that is ear-shaped, suc...

Back pain: Pain felt in the low or upper back. Causes of pain in the low and upper back in...

Board certified: In medicine, a description for a physician who has taken and passed a med...

Brain: The portion of the central nervous system that is located within the skull. It func...

Carpal tunnel syndrome: Compression and irritation of the median nerve as it passes under ...

Cerebrospinal fluid: A watery fluid that is continuously produced and absorbed and that fl...

Chinese medicine: See: Traditional Chinese medicine.

Complementary medicine: A group of diagnostic and therapeutic disciplines that are used to...

Cortisol: A metabolite of the primary stress hormone cortisone. Cortisol is an essential f...

Ear: The hearing organ. There are three sections of the ear, according to the anatomy tex...

Elbow: The juncture of the long bones in the middle portion of the upper extremity. The bo...

Fibromyalgia: A disease characterized by chronic pain, stiffness, and tenderness of muscle...

Food and Drug Administration: An agency within the US Public Health Service that provides ...

Gland: A group of cells that secrete a substance for use in the body. For example, the thy...

Gray's Anatomy: A book entitled Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical by Henry Gray appe...

Headache: A pain in the head with the pain being above the eyes or the ears, behind the he...

Herbal: 1. An adjective, referring to herbs, as in an herbal tea.
2. A...

Hormone: A chemical substance produced in the body that controls and regulates the activit...

Insertion: A chromosome abnormality that is due to insertion of a segment from one chromos...

Intern: In medicine, a doctor who has completed medical school and is engaged in a year of...

Intestine: The long, tubelike organ in the abdomen that completes the process of digestion...

Iron: An essential mineral. Iron is necessary for the transport of oxygen (via hemoglobin ...

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. JAMA began publication in 1883. It ...

Journal of the American Medical Association: JAMA, which began publication in 1883, now bi...

Large intestine: Comes after the small intestine. Large because it is wider than the smal...

Lumen: A luminous term referring to the channel within a tube such as a blood vessel or to...

Medicare: The US government's national health insurance program for people aged 65 and old...

Menstrual: Pertaining to menstruation (the menses), as in last menstrual period, menstrua...

Menstrual cramps: Cramping in the lower abdomen, usually in the first or second day of the...

Naloxone: A drug that antagonizes morphine and other opiates. Naloxone is a pure opiate an...

Nausea: Stomach queasiness, the urge to vomit. Nausea can be brought on by many causes, in...

NCCAM: National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine.

NEI: Stands for National Eye Institute, one of the US National Institutes of Health.

NEJM: The New England Journal of Medicine.

Nerve: A bundle of fibers that uses electrical and chemical signals to transmit sensory an...

New England Journal of Medicine: Despite its regional name, The New England Journal of Med...

NIH: National Institutes of Health.

Objective: In a microscope, the objective (also called the objective lens) is the lens nea...

Osteoarthritis: A type of arthritis caused by inflammation, breakdown, and eventual loss ...

Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pa...

Pharmacy: A location where prescription medications are sold. A pharmacy is constantly sup...

Physiologic: Something that is normal, that is due neither to anything pathologic nor sign...

Physiology: The study of how living organisms function, including such processes as nutrit...

Pituitary: 1. As an adjective, pertaining to the pituitary gland or its hormonal se...

Pituitary gland: The main endocrine gland. It is a small structure in the head. It is ca...

Placebo: A "sugar pill" or any dummy medication or treatment.

Placebo effect: Also called the placebo response. A remarkable phenomenon in which a place...

Postoperative: After surgery. As opposed to preoperative, before surgery.

Prevalence: The proportion of individuals in a population having a disease or characterist...

Rehabilitation: The process of helping a person who has suffered an illness or injury rest...

Sciatic nerve: The largest nerve in the body, the sciatic nerve begins from nerve roots in...

Sciatica: Pain that results from irritation of the sciatic nerve and typically radiates fr...

Sensation: In medicine and physiology, sensation refers to the registration of an incoming...

Serotonin: A neurotransmitter that is involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. Sero...

Spinal cord: The major column of nerve tissue that is connected to the brain and lies with...

Steroid: One of a large group of chemical substances classified by a specific carbon struc...

Stroke: The sudden death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen, caused by blockage of blood...

Substance: 1. Material with particular features.
2. The material that...

Syndrome: A combination of symptoms and signs that together represent a disease process.

Syringe: A medical device that is used to inject fluid into, or withdraw fluid from, the b...

Tennis elbow: Lateral epicondylitis caused by injured tendons from the muscles that attach...

Therapy: The treatment of disease. Therapy is synonymous with treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine: The current name for an ancient system of health care from C...

Veterinary medicine: The medical science concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and preve...

Warfarin: An anticoagulant drug (brand names: Coumarin, Panwarfin, Sofarin) taken to prev...