A to Z Glossary of Terms

Understanding the words behind stroke.

Stroke Glossary of Terms

Plain-language definitions for stroke survivors, caregivers, and families

Stroke care and recovery involve many unfamiliar medical and rehabilitation terms. This glossary provides concise explanations of words commonly used during emergency treatment, hospitalization, rehabilitation, and long-term recovery.

Important: This glossary is for general education and does not replace individualized medical advice. Healthcare professionals may use some terms differently depending on the diagnosis, examination findings, and stage of recovery.

A

ACA (Anterior Cerebral Artery): One of the main arteries supplying blood to the brain. A stroke in this artery typically affects the leg and foot more heavily than the arm.
Acalculia: The loss of the ability to perform simple math or understand numbers. This can make everyday tasks like paying bills, reading a clock, making change, or measuring ingredients difficult.
Activities of daily living (ADLs): Basic personal-care tasks needed for everyday life, such as bathing, dressing, grooming, eating, toileting, and moving around the home.
Agnosia: Difficulty recognizing or identifying familiar objects, people, sounds, or other sensory information even though the person’s basic senses may still be working.
Agraphia: The loss of the ability to write after a brain injury. This often occurs alongside aphasia, though sometimes a survivor can still speak fine while losing their ability to write.
Alexia (Acquired Dyslexia): The loss of the ability to read after a brain injury, even if the person can still see perfectly and could read previously.
Ambiguous Loss / Grief: The feeling of grieving someone who is still alive. Family members may mourn the person the survivor used to be, while the survivor may grieve the loss of their past abilities, independence, and roles.
Aneurysm: A weakened area in the wall of a blood vessel that bulges outward. If a brain aneurysm ruptures, it can cause bleeding in or around the brain.
Ankle-foot orthosis (AFO): A brace worn on the lower leg and foot to support the ankle, improve foot clearance, and provide greater stability during standing or walking.
Anomia: Difficulty finding or producing the correct word, especially the names of people, places, or objects. Anomia is common in many types of aphasia.
Anomic aphasia: A type of aphasia in which word-finding difficulty is the most noticeable problem. Speech may remain fluent and comprehension may be relatively preserved.
Anosognosia: Reduced awareness or lack of awareness of an impairment caused by stroke. A person may not recognize weakness, visual loss, communication difficulty, or the need for assistance.
Anticoagulant: A medication that reduces the blood’s ability to form clots. It may be prescribed to reduce stroke risk in conditions such as atrial fibrillation.
Antiplatelet medication: A medication that helps prevent platelets from sticking together and forming clots. Aspirin and clopidogrel are common examples.
Apathy: A profound lack of interest, motivation, or emotion. Post-stroke apathy is often a direct biological result of brain damage, not laziness or stubbornness.
Aphasia: A language disorder caused by damage to areas of the brain responsible for communication. It may affect speaking, understanding, reading, writing, or a combination of these abilities. Aphasia does not mean a person has lost intelligence.
Apraxia: Difficulty planning or carrying out a learned movement even though the person understands the task and has enough strength to attempt it.
Apraxia of speech: A motor-planning disorder that makes it difficult to coordinate the movements needed for speech. The person knows what they want to say but has trouble producing sounds and words accurately.
Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM): A tangle of abnormal blood vessels connecting arteries and veins in the brain. If an AVM ruptures, it can cause a hemorrhagic stroke.
Aspiration: When food, liquid, saliva, or another substance enters the airway instead of traveling safely into the stomach. Aspiration can increase the risk of pneumonia.
Assistive technology: Devices, equipment, software, or systems that help a person perform activities more independently, such as communication devices, mobility equipment, or adapted computer controls.
Associated Reactions: Involuntary movements in the paralyzed or weak limb that happen when the survivor yawns, sneezes, coughs, or exerts a lot of effort with their unaffected side. This is a reflex, not a sign of returning voluntary muscle control.
Astereognosis (Tactile Agnosia): The inability to recognize or identify objects by touch alone, even though the hand can still physically feel the object. For example, a survivor might reach into their pocket and be unable to tell the difference between a coin and a key without looking at it.
Ataxia: Poor coordination or control of movement. It may cause unsteady walking, inaccurate reaching, impaired balance, or difficulty coordinating speech and swallowing muscles.
Atherosclerosis: The buildup of fats, cholesterol, and other substances (plaque) on artery walls. This can restrict blood flow or break off to cause an embolic stroke.
Atrial fibrillation: An irregular heart rhythm that can allow blood to pool and form clots inside the heart. A clot can travel to the brain and cause an ischemic stroke.

B

Baclofen: A common oral medication (muscle relaxant) used to treat severe muscle spasticity and spasms following a stroke. Some survivors may have a "Baclofen pump" surgically implanted for continuous medication delivery.
Basal Ganglia: Deep structures in the brain that help coordinate smooth, fluid, and precise voluntary movements.
Body-Weight Supported Treadmill Training (BWSTT): A therapy where the survivor wears a harness suspended over a treadmill. It supports some of their body weight, allowing them to practice walking safely without the fear of falling.
Botulinum Toxin (Botox): A medical treatment injected directly into specific tight muscles by a physician. It temporarily blocks the nerve signals that cause severe spasticity, relaxing the muscle for three to four months so the survivor can stretch and participate in physical therapy.
Bowel and Bladder Incontinence: A loss of control over urination or bowel movements. After a stroke, the brain may no longer send or receive the correct signals to the bladder and bowel muscles.
Brainstem: The area connecting the brain to the spinal cord. It controls involuntary, life-sustaining functions like breathing, heart rate, swallowing, and wakefulness.
Brainstem stroke: A stroke affecting the brainstem, which helps control movement, balance, eye movements, swallowing, breathing, alertness, and other essential functions.
Broca’s aphasia: A nonfluent type of aphasia in which speech may be slow, effortful, and limited to short phrases. Understanding is often better preserved than speaking.

C

Care Plan: A written document created by the medical team that outlines a survivor’s specific needs, daily routines, therapies, and recovery goals.
Caregiver Burnout: A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that occurs when a caregiver is overwhelmed and does not get the rest or support they need.
Carotid artery: One of the major arteries in the neck that supplies blood to the brain. Narrowing or blockage can increase the risk of ischemic stroke.
Central post-stroke pain: Nerve-related pain caused by damage to the brain’s sensory pathways. It may feel burning, freezing, stabbing, tingling, aching, or unusually sensitive to touch or temperature.
Cerebellar stroke: A stroke affecting the cerebellum, which is involved in balance, coordination, posture, eye movements, and movement accuracy.
Cerebellum: The structure at the base of the brain responsible for balance, coordination, and posture. A stroke here often causes severe dizziness, nausea, and clumsy movements.
Cerebral edema: Swelling in the brain caused by excess fluid. It may occur after a large stroke and can increase pressure inside the skull.
Circumduction Gait: A common walking pattern after a stroke where the survivor swings their stiff, affected leg outward in a semi-circle to take a step, rather than bending the knee and lifting the foot straight forward.
Claw Hand / Claw Toes: A physical deformity where the fingers or toes curl tightly inward and cannot be easily straightened. It is caused by severe, untreated spasticity or nerve damage.
Clonus: Involuntary, rhythmic, bouncing muscle contractions. It is most commonly seen in the ankle or foot when the foot is pushed upward, and is a sign of central nervous system damage.
Cognition: The mental processes involved in thinking, including attention, memory, judgment, problem-solving, planning, understanding, and learning.
Communication device: A tool used to support or replace spoken communication, ranging from picture or alphabet boards to tablets and speech-generating devices.
Computed tomography scan (CT scan): A rapid imaging test that uses X-rays to create pictures of the brain. It is commonly used in emergency stroke evaluation to look for bleeding and other abnormalities.
Conduction aphasia: A type of aphasia in which speech may be relatively fluent and understanding may be fairly good, but repeating words or sentences is especially difficult.
Confabulation: When the brain unintentionally "fills in the blanks" of missing memories with fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted information. The survivor is not deliberately lying; their damaged brain genuinely believes the false memory is the truth.
Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT): A rehabilitation technique where the unaffected (or "good") limb is restrained, often with a mitt, forcing the brain to use and rewire the affected limb.
Contracture: Significant or permanent tightening of muscles, tendons, or joints that limits movement. Contractures can develop when a limb remains difficult to move for a prolonged period.
Contraindication: A medical reason why a certain treatment, medication, or therapy should not be used because it could harm the patient. For example, severe high blood pressure is a contraindication for clot-busting drugs.
Cortical Blindness: A complete or partial loss of vision caused by damage to the brain's visual processing center (the occipital lobe). The eyes are perfectly healthy, but the brain cannot translate the images they see.
Cryptogenic Stroke: A stroke for which no clear, underlying medical cause can be found despite extensive testing.

D

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT): A blood clot that forms in a deep vein, usually in the leg. Reduced mobility after stroke can increase the risk, and the clot may become dangerous if it travels to the lungs.
Dependent Edema: Swelling in the affected arm, hand, leg, or foot. It is caused by a lack of voluntary muscle movement, since working muscles normally act as a pump to push fluid and blood back toward the heart.
Depression after stroke: Persistent sadness, loss of interest, hopelessness, low energy, sleep changes, or other symptoms of depression following stroke. It is common and treatable.
Diplopia (Double Vision): Seeing two overlapping or side-by-side images of a single object. This happens when a stroke affects the nerves that control eye movement and alignment.
Dysarthria: A motor-speech disorder caused by weakness, poor coordination, or impaired control of the muscles used for speech. Speech may sound slurred, slow, quiet, or strained.
Dysmetria: A type of coordination problem where a person cannot properly judge distance or scale. When reaching for an object, they may consistently overshoot (reach too far) or undershoot (stop short) their target.
Dysphagia: Difficulty swallowing safely or efficiently. It can affect food, liquids, pills, or saliva and may increase the risk of dehydration, poor nutrition, aspiration, or pneumonia.
Dystonia: Involuntary muscle contractions that cause repetitive, twisting movements or abnormal postures.

E

Embolic stroke: An ischemic stroke caused by a clot or other material that forms elsewhere in the body, often in the heart, and travels to an artery in the brain.
Emotional lability: Rapid, intense, or difficult-to-control emotional expression after stroke. A person may cry, laugh, or become upset more easily than before.
Endovascular treatment: A procedure performed from inside the blood vessels using a catheter. Mechanical thrombectomy is one example.
Etiology: The root medical cause of a disease or condition. In a survivor's chart, stroke etiology refers to exactly why the stroke happened (e.g., atrial fibrillation or high blood pressure).
Executive function: Thinking abilities used to plan, organize, begin, monitor, and complete activities. Problems can affect judgment, time management, problem-solving, and safety awareness.
Expressive aphasia: A general term describing greater difficulty producing spoken or written language than understanding it. Broca’s aphasia is a common form.

F

Facial Droop (Facial Palsy): Weakness or paralysis on one side of the face. It can make smiling, chewing, drinking without spilling, and fully closing the eye on the affected side difficult.
Fall Risk: A formal designation used by medical staff to indicate that a patient is in danger of falling due to weakness, balance issues, vision changes, or impulsivity.
Fatigue: An intense feeling of physical or mental exhaustion that is not always relieved by rest. Post-stroke fatigue can affect concentration, activity tolerance, work, and social participation.
Fatigue (Neuro-Fatigue): An intense, sudden, and often debilitating physical and mental exhaustion. Unlike normal tiredness, post-stroke fatigue happens because the brain is expending massive amounts of energy to heal and rewire itself, and it cannot always be relieved simply by sleeping.
Feeding Tube (PEG Tube or NG Tube): A medical device used to provide nutrition, hydration, and medications directly into the stomach when a survivor has severe dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) and cannot safely eat by mouth.
Flaccidity (Flaccid Paralysis): When muscles lose all of their background tone and become completely limp, heavy, or floppy. This is the opposite of spasticity and often happens in the early stages after a stroke.
Foot drop: Difficulty lifting the front of the foot and toes during walking. It can cause the toes to drag or catch on the ground.
Frontal Lobe: The front part of the brain that acts as the control center for executive function, decision-making, personality, impulsivity, and voluntary movement. It also houses the area responsible for speech production.
Functional electrical stimulation (FES): The use of mild electrical stimulation to activate muscles during a functional task, such as helping lift the foot during walking or assisting arm movement.

G

Gabapentin / Pregabalin (Lyrica): Medications originally designed for seizures, but highly effective and commonly prescribed for treating nerve pain, burning sensations, and central post-stroke pain.
Global aphasia: A severe type of aphasia that significantly affects speaking, understanding, reading, and writing.
Grasping Reflex (Palmar Grasp): An involuntary reflex where a stroke survivor's hand automatically and tightly grips anything that touches their palm (like a caregiver's hand or a bedrail), making it difficult to willingly let go.

H

Hemi-walker: A one-handed walking device with a wider base of support than a standard cane. It may be used when more stability is needed but both hands cannot be used on a traditional walker.
Hemianopia: Loss of vision in the same half of the visual field in both eyes, often called homonymous hemianopia.
Hemiparesis: Weakness affecting one side of the body. The face, arm, leg, or a combination of these areas may be involved.
Hemiplegia: Paralysis or near-complete loss of voluntary movement on one side of the body.
Hemisensory Loss: The loss of sensation on one side of the body. A survivor may not be able to feel touch, pain, heat, or cold, which increases the risk of accidental burns or injuries.
Hemorrhagic stroke: A stroke caused by a blood vessel that leaks or ruptures, producing bleeding within or around the brain.
Hemorrhagic Transformation: A complication where an ischemic stroke (caused by a blood clot) suddenly starts bleeding into the brain, turning into a hemorrhagic stroke.
High-Intensity Gait Training (HIGT): A physical therapy approach focused on walking practice that is highly challenging, repetitive, and keeps the heart rate elevated. It is designed to maximize the brain's ability to relearn how to walk.
Homonymous hemianopia: Loss of the same half of the visual field in both eyes because of injury to the brain’s visual pathways.
Hyperacusis: An extreme, abnormal sensitivity to everyday sounds. Things like a humming refrigerator, running water, or normal conversation may seem unbearably loud or even physically painful.
Hyperreflexia: Exaggerated, overly strong physical reflexes occurring because the brain is no longer sending signals to calm them down. For example, a doctor lightly tapping the knee with a reflex hammer might cause the leg to violently jerk outward.
Hypertension: High blood pressure. It can damage blood vessels over time and is one of the most important modifiable risk factors for stroke.
Hypertonia: Abnormally high muscle tension or stiffness in a resting muscle.
Hypotonia: Abnormally low muscle tension, making the limb feel unusually loose, heavy, or floppy.

I

Identity Loss / Loss of Self: The psychological and emotional struggle a survivor faces when their life roles (e.g., breadwinner, active parent) or physical abilities suddenly change, forcing them to redefine who they are.
Infarction: An area of tissue damage or death caused by an inadequate blood supply. A cerebral infarction occurs when brain tissue is injured because it does not receive enough blood and oxygen.
Inpatient Rehab Facility (IRF): A specialized hospital facility that provides intensive, acute therapy. Survivors in an IRF typically receive a minimum of three hours of physical, occupational, and speech therapy per day.
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs): Complex tasks required to live independently, such as managing finances, cooking a meal, driving, taking medications correctly, and grocery shopping. Therapists use IADLs to determine if someone is safe to live alone.
Intention Tremor: A shaking of the hand or arm that worsens as the person reaches out to touch or grab a specific target (like reaching for a glass of water).
Intimacy and Sexual Changes: Changes in physical or emotional intimacy after a stroke, which can be caused by physical limitations, changes in sensation, medication side effects, or psychological factors.
Intracerebral hemorrhage: Bleeding directly into the brain tissue caused by a ruptured blood vessel. It is the most common type of hemorrhagic stroke.
Ischemia: An inadequate supply of blood and oxygen to part of the body. Brain ischemia can cause temporary symptoms or permanent injury.
Ischemic stroke: A stroke caused by a blocked or severely narrowed blood vessel that interrupts blood flow to part of the brain.

K

Knee Hyperextension (Genu Recurvatum): When the knee forcefully snaps backward during walking. This is common after a stroke due to weak thigh muscles, tight calf muscles, or poor balance.

L

Lacunar stroke: A small ischemic stroke involving one of the brain’s deep, small arteries. It may affect movement, sensation, coordination, or other neurological functions.
Learned nonuse: Reduced use of an affected arm or leg that develops when attempts to use it are difficult or unsuccessful, leading the person to rely mainly on the less-affected side.
Locked-in syndrome: A rare condition in which a person is conscious and able to think but has severe paralysis and cannot speak. Eye movements or blinking may remain available for communication.

M

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): An imaging test that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed pictures of the brain.
MCA (Middle Cerebral Artery): The most common artery involved in an ischemic stroke. An MCA stroke typically affects the face and arm more than the leg and often causes aphasia.
Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT): A specialized speech therapy technique that uses singing and rhythm to help survivors with severe expressive aphasia learn to speak again by engaging the musical areas on the undamaged side of the brain.
Mental Practice / Motor Imagery: The process of vividly imagining a physical movement (like reaching for a cup) without actually moving the body. Visualizing the movement activates the same motor networks in the brain as actually doing it.
Mirror Therapy (Mirror Box Therapy): A therapy where a mirror is placed between the arms or legs so the survivor only sees their unaffected limb. When they move the unaffected limb, the reflection tricks the brain into thinking the paralyzed limb is moving, which helps stimulate neuroplasticity.
Modified barium swallow study: A moving X-ray examination used to evaluate swallowing while a person eats or drinks items mixed with barium.
Modified Rankin Scale (mRS): A 0-to-6 scale used worldwide by neurologists to measure the degree of disability or dependence in the daily activities of people who have suffered a stroke (where 0 is no symptoms and 6 is death).
Motor recovery: The process of regaining or improving control of movement after stroke through natural recovery, neuroplasticity, practice, compensation, equipment, and changes in movement strategy.
Muscle Atrophy: The shrinking, thinning, or wasting away of a muscle. This happens when a muscle is not used regularly due to paralysis, weakness, or learned non-use after a stroke.
Muscle tone: The background level of activity or resistance in a muscle. After stroke, tone may be unusually low, normal, or increased.

N

National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS): A standardized examination used by healthcare professionals to measure the severity of neurological impairments during an acute stroke.
Neglect: Reduced awareness of or attention to one side of the body or environment, usually on the side opposite the brain injury.
Neuropathic pain: Pain caused by damage or abnormal processing within the nervous system. It may feel burning, electrical, stabbing, tingling, freezing, or unusually sensitive.
Neuroplasticity: The nervous system’s ability to change, reorganize, and form new connections in response to learning, experience, practice, or injury.
Nonfluent aphasia: A broad category of aphasia in which spoken language is reduced, slow, effortful, or grammatically incomplete.
Nystagmus: Rapid, involuntary, and uncontrolled movements of the eyes. The eyes may drift and jerk side to side or up and down, which can cause dizziness, nausea, or blurry vision.

O

Occipital Lobe: The area at the very back of the brain whose sole job is processing vision. A stroke here causes visual field cuts or cortical blindness.
Occupational therapy: Rehabilitation focused on helping a person participate as independently and safely as possible in meaningful everyday activities.
Orthosis: A supportive device worn on the body to improve alignment, stability, positioning, or movement. An AFO is one common example.
Orthostatic Hypotension: A sudden, sharp drop in blood pressure that happens when a survivor goes from lying down to sitting, or sitting to standing. It can cause severe dizziness, blurred vision, or fainting, making it a major fall risk.
Overstimulation (Sensory Overload): Feeling overwhelmed, irritable, or exhausted by environments with too much noise, bright light, crowds, or multiple conversations. The healing brain often struggles to filter out background noise.

P

Paraphasia: An unintended word or sound substitution during speech, such as saying a related word, an unrelated word, or a word with incorrect sounds.
Paresthesia: An altered sensation such as tingling, prickling, burning, numbness, or pins and needles.
Parietal Lobe: Located near the top and back of the brain, this area processes sensory information (touch, temperature, pain) and spatial awareness. Damage here is a primary cause of spatial neglect.
Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO): A small hole between the upper chambers of the heart that did not close properly after birth. In some cases, a blood clot can pass through a PFO, travel to the brain, and cause a stroke.
PCA (Posterior Cerebral Artery): One of the main arteries supplying blood to the back of the brain. A stroke in this artery most commonly affects vision.
Penumbra: The area of vulnerable brain tissue immediately surrounding the dead tissue (the core) of a stroke. The penumbra is damaged and struggling but can still be saved if blood flow is restored quickly.
Perseveration: The unintentional repetition of a word, idea, movement, or response after it is no longer appropriate.
Photophobia: An extreme, abnormal sensitivity to light. Bright sunlight or indoor fluorescent lights may cause severe headaches or eye pain.
Physiatrist (PM****&****R Doctor): A medical doctor who specializes in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. They often manage a stroke survivor's recovery plan, therapies, and medications once the patient leaves the intensive care unit.
Physical therapy: Rehabilitation focused on movement and physical function, including walking, balance, transfers, strength, coordination, endurance, mobility equipment, and fall prevention.
Plateau: A period during recovery where progress seems to slow down or stop entirely. It is important to know that a plateau is a normal phase of healing and does not mean that recovery is permanently over.
Post-Stroke Anxiety: Intense feelings of worry, fear, or panic that are common after a stroke. Survivors often experience a severe, lingering fear of having another stroke.
Post-Stroke Seizure / Epilepsy: Seizures that occur as a result of the scar tissue forming in the brain after a stroke.
Prism Lenses (Prism Glasses): Specialized eyeglasses prescribed by a neuro-optometrist that bend light to shift a person's field of vision. They are often used to help survivors compensate for visual field cuts or spatial neglect.
Proprioception: The body’s ability to sense the position and movement of its joints and limbs without looking at them.
Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness): A rare but severe deficit where the survivor loses the ability to recognize familiar faces—sometimes even the faces of their spouse, their children, or themselves in the mirror. They often have to rely on recognizing a person's voice, hairstyle, or clothing.
Pseudobulbar affect (PBA): A neurological condition that causes sudden, involuntary episodes of crying or laughing that may be exaggerated or may not match how the person feels.
Ptosis: A drooping or falling of the upper eyelid on one side of the face. If severe enough, it can physically block the survivor's vision in that eye.
Pusher Syndrome (Contraversive Pushing): A balance disorder where a stroke survivor actively pushes their body weight toward their weak or paralyzed side. Because their brain's perception of "upright" is distorted, they often resist a caregiver or therapist’s attempts to help them sit or stand straight.

R

Receptive aphasia: A general term describing significant difficulty understanding spoken or written language. Wernicke’s aphasia is a common form.
Rehabilitation: A coordinated process that helps a person regain, improve, compensate for, or adapt to abilities affected by stroke.

S

Sensation: The ability to detect and interpret touch, pressure, pain, temperature, vibration, and body position. Stroke may cause reduced, absent, distorted, or unusually intense sensation.
Serial Casting: A process where a physical or occupational therapist applies a series of fiberglass or plaster casts to an arm or leg. The cast is changed every few days to gently and progressively stretch abnormally tight muscles and joints.
Shoulder subluxation: Partial separation or downward displacement of the upper-arm bone from the shoulder socket, often related to weakness or low muscle tone.
Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF): A residential rehabilitation and care facility. Compared to an Inpatient Rehab Facility, a SNF generally provides physical, occupational, and speech therapies at a slower, less intensive pace.
Spastic Catch (Clasp-Knife Response): A specific type of muscle stiffness. When a caregiver tries to stretch a survivor's bent arm or leg, they will feel intense resistance, but suddenly the muscle will "give way" or release, similar to opening a pocket knife.
Spasticity: A movement disorder in which muscles become abnormally stiff or overactive because of damage to the brain or spinal cord.
Spatial neglect: Reduced attention to one side of the body or surrounding space. It is an attention disorder rather than a problem with the eyes themselves.
Spatial Neglect (Unilateral Neglect): Reduced attention to one side of the body or surrounding space. It is a brain processing problem, not an eye problem; the survivor literally cannot perceive that the affected side exists. Caregivers should initially approach from the unaffected side to avoid startling the survivor, but gradually encourage them to turn toward the neglected side.
Speech-language pathology: A rehabilitation profession that evaluates and treats communication, cognition, voice, speech, language, and swallowing difficulties.
Spontaneous Recovery: The natural, unassisted healing of the brain that typically occurs in the first few weeks or months after a stroke as brain swelling goes down and blood flow stabilizes.
SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors): Commonly known as antidepressants (e.g., Lexapro, Zoloft). In stroke recovery, they are used to treat post-stroke depression and Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA), and research suggests they may also help promote neuroplasticity.
Statins: Medications (e.g., Lipitor, Crestor) that lower cholesterol in the blood. Even if a survivor did not have high cholesterol before their stroke, statins are almost always prescribed to stabilize blood vessels and prevent future strokes.
Stenosis: The abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel (such as carotid stenosis). This restricts blood flow and increases the risk of a clot forming.
Subarachnoid hemorrhage: Bleeding into the space between the brain and the thin tissues surrounding it, often caused by a ruptured aneurysm.
Swallow study: A test used to evaluate how safely and effectively a person swallows. Common examples include a modified barium swallow study and FEES.
Synergy Patterns (Flexor or Extensor Synergy): Abnormal, linked muscle movements that occur after a stroke. For example, when a survivor tries to lift their arm to reach for something, their elbow, wrist, and fingers may automatically curl inward because the damaged brain can no longer isolate individual muscles.

T

Task-Specific Training: Practicing a real-life, everyday activity (like buttoning a shirt or lifting a coffee cup) over and over in therapy, rather than just doing general physical exercises (like bicep curls) to improve function.
Temporal Lobe: Located on the sides of the brain near the ears, this area is responsible for memory, hearing, and understanding language.
Tenecteplase (TNK): A clot-dissolving medication used in many stroke systems to treat eligible patients with acute ischemic stroke.
Thalamus: The brain's central relay station. Almost all sensory information passes through here. Damage to the thalamus is a common cause of Central Post-Stroke Pain.
Thrombectomy: An emergency procedure in which a specialist uses a catheter and device to remove a blood clot from a large artery in the brain.
Thrombolytic medication: A medication used to dissolve a blood clot that is blocking blood flow. It may reduce disability when given to an eligible patient within an appropriate treatment window.
Thrombus: A blood clot that forms inside a blood vessel. A thrombus blocking an artery to the brain can cause an ischemic stroke.
Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA): A clot-dissolving medication used to treat some ischemic strokes. Alteplase is a form of tPA.
Tizanidine / Dantrolene: Common prescription oral muscle relaxants used to treat spasticity and abnormally high muscle tone.
Transcortical motor aphasia: A nonfluent type of aphasia in which initiating speech is difficult, while the ability to repeat words or sentences may be relatively preserved.
Transcortical sensory aphasia: A fluent type of aphasia in which understanding and meaningful word use are impaired, while repetition may remain relatively preserved.
Transient ischemic attack (TIA): A temporary episode of stroke-like symptoms caused by interrupted blood flow without evidence of permanent brain infarction. A TIA is a medical emergency and warning sign.
Trunk Instability (Core Weakness): Weakness in the stomach and back muscles. This makes it difficult or impossible for the survivor to sit up straight on the edge of a bed or in a chair without leaning, slumping, or falling over.

U

Unilateral spatial neglect: Another term for spatial neglect, describing reduced attention to one side of the body or environment.
Upper motor neuron syndrome: A group of movement problems caused by damage to pathways carrying signals from the brain to the spinal cord. Findings may include weakness, spasticity, exaggerated reflexes, and reduced selective movement.

V

Vertigo: The false sensation that the person or surroundings are moving, spinning, tilting, or swaying.
Visual field cut: Loss of vision in a specific portion of the visual field. A person may not see objects located to one side, above, or below.

W

Weakness: Reduced ability to generate or control muscle force. After stroke, weakness may affect the face, arm, leg, trunk, or one entire side of the body.
Wernicke’s aphasia: A fluent type of aphasia in which a person may speak easily but have significant difficulty understanding language. Speech may contain incorrect, unrelated, or made-up words.

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