Pain: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage - as defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain. www.iasp-pain.org

Pain Behavior: Verbal or nonverbal actions understood by observers to indicate that a person may be experiencing pain, distress, and suffering. These actions may include audible complaints, facial expression, abnormal postures, gait (walking patterns), use of prosthetic devices, or avoidance of activities.

Palpation: The technique of examining the body with your fingers; the art of feeling with the hand.

Paresthesia: Abnormal sensation or loss of normal sensation. A sensation of prickling, tingling, or creeping on the skin, usually associated with an injury or irritation of a sensory nerve or nerve root.

Parasympathetic: Literally means around (para) the sympathetic; refers to the parasympathetic nervous system, a division of the autonomic nervous system; responsible for the regulation of body systems. It serves to slow the heart rate, increase intestinal and gland activity, and relax the sphincter muscles.

PET: A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is a unique type of imaging test that helps doctors visualize how the organs and tissues inside your body are actually functioning. The test involves injecting a very small dose of a radioactive chemical, called a radiotracer, into the vein of your arm. The tracer travels through the body and is absorbed by the organs and tissues being studied. Next, you will be asked to lie down on a flat examination table that is moved into the center of a PET scanner—a doughnut-like shaped machine. This machine detects and records the energy given off by the tracer substance and, with the aid of a computer, energy is converted into three-dimensional pictures. A physician can then look at cross-sectional images of the body organ from any angle in order to detect any functional problems. http://www.idifwb.com/services/pet.htm

Plasticity: Tissue that is capable of being formed or shaped. This is a term used to describe developmental changes in the nervous system, and the fact that nerves and the brain are capable of learning and refining processes of transmission.

Primary Contact Health Care Provider: Any health care provider capable of providing first level contact and intake into the health delivery system such as a medical doctor, chiropractic physician, or osteopathic physician.

Proprioceptors: Sensory nerve terminals which give information concerning movements and position of the body in space; they occur chiefly in the muscles, tendons, joint spaces and the labyrinth of the inner ear.