Glossary

Glossary of Terms

Term	Descrip­tion
Annu­lus	The tough out­er lay­er of a spinal disc that enclos­es the soft­er disc nucleus.
Disc Nucle­us	The soft, gel-like cen­ter of a spinal disc that pro­vides cush­ion­ing between vertebrae.
Her­ni­at­ed Disc	A con­di­tion where the disc nucle­us is pushed out of the annu­lus into the spinal canal, often due to degen­er­a­tion or trauma.
Mus­cle Strain	An injury result­ing from a mus­cle being over­stretched or torn, often due to fatigue, overuse, or improp­er use.
Pinched Nerve	A nerve that is com­pressed by sur­round­ing tis­sues or struc­tures, caus­ing pain, weak­ness, and oth­er symptoms.
Soft Tis­sue Injury	Dam­age to mus­cles, lig­a­ments, and ten­dons, which can occur in any part of the body.
Spinal Canal	The hol­low space with­in the ver­te­bral col­umn that hous­es and pro­tects the spinal cord.
Spinal Cord Injury	Dam­age to the spinal cord that results in a loss of essen­tial func­tions such as mobil­i­ty and sen­sa­tion, often caused by trauma.
Whiplash	A neck injury caused by force­ful, rapid back-and-forth move­ment of the neck, typ­i­cal­ly result­ing from rear-end car accidents.