Habilitation: Teaching new skills to children with developmental disabilities.

Hamstring muscles: Muscles at the back of the knee that bend and move the leg and thigh.

Hand fisting: Infants up to the age of 4 months tend to keep their hands in fists. At around the age of 4 months they begin to reach out for objects using both hands. An example of "asymmetric hand fisting" would be if one hand remains fisted
in contrast to the other.

Head control: The ability to control the movements of the head.

Head Injury: Damage to the head; generally refers to damage to the brain.

Hemianopia: Defective vision or blindness that impairs half of the normal field of vision.

Hemiparectic tremors: Uncontrollable shaking affecting the limbs on the spastic side of the body in those who have spastic
hemiplegia.

Hemiplegia: A type of impairment in which only the right or left side of the body is affected.

Hepatitis: An inflammation of the liver.

High tone: A tightness or spasticity of the muscles.

Hip Muscle Releases: Usually one of several surgical procedures such as adductor tenotomy and psoas release, hip adductor lengthening, iliopsoas release lengthening, hamstring lengthening. The adductors pull on the bones and bring them
closer to the middle of the body. They are located on the inside of the thighs. When they are too tight they make
the legs scissors, which can pull the ball of the hip out of the socket. Muscle releases are an attempt to prevent the
hips from dislocating.

Hip subluxation: When the ball of the thigh bone no longer fits in the center of its socket.

Hippotherapy: Therapeutic horseback riding is a form of therapy that literally means "treatment with the help of a horse."
The primary goals are normalizing muscle tone, equilibrium reactions, head and trunk control, coordination and spatial
orientation. It is proposed that the multidimensional swinging rhythm of the horse's walk is transferred to the patient's
pelvis in a manner that duplicates the normal human gait.

Hoyer lift: Mechanical (hydraulic) device for lifting and transferring individuals.

Hydrocephalus: Excess fluid within the cranial cavity that may cause increased pressure on brain tissue, often leading to the
development of an abnormally large head. The pressure can be relieved by surgical insertion of a shunt (tube) to drain
the fluid.

Hydrotherapy: Therapy in the water.

Hyperactivity: A specific nervous-system-based difficulty which makes it hard for a person to control muscle (motor) behavior and results in restlessness, fidgeting, overactive movements.

Hyperbaria: Under increased pressure.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): A medical treatment that uses pure oxygen to speed and enhance the body's natural ability to heal. HBOT is an American Medical Association, FDA and Medicare approved modality for selected illnesses such as carbon monoxide poisoning (the Bends) and skin wound healing. It has been tried for a number of other
illnesses, but generally without success. It is now being tried in the treatment of disabilities associated with cerebral
palsy and traumatic brain injury.

Hyperbaric oxygenation: Means oxygen delivered under increased pressure. It is also the term used for a procedure in which a person is placed in an apparatus that delivers under increased atmosphere pressure, additional oxygen to the lungs and its blood vessels.

Hyperextensible: Overly flexible.

Hyperopia: Farsightedness; a condition in which distant objects can be clearly seen, but nearby objects appear blurred.

Hyperplasia: Excessive growth of tissue-for example, of gum tissue.

Hypertonia: An increased tension or spasticity of the muscles.

Hypothermia: The body temperature is lowered below the normal.

Hypotonia: Decreased tension of a muscle. Low tone.

Hypoxia: Oxygen level below normal.

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy: Brain damage caused by poor blood flow or insufficient oxygen supply to the brain.