在日常学术交流及诊疗常规中，对功能性神经系统疾病（简称功能性神经疾病）、功能神经外科以及功能神经医学（类似脊骨神经医学）的名词定义理解及使用上存在较多混淆和错误。功能性神经疾病代表的是一类特定的疾病，此处“功能”指的是疾病的性质；功能神经外科是神经外科的一个新兴分支，此处“功能”指的是手术或干预后的结果——功能的恢复或改善；功能神经医学则是一种融合了脊骨神经医学、康复医学、神经病学、针灸等多学科理论的替代医疗分支。

There is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding in the terms for functional neurological disorders, functional neurosurgery and functional neurology (similar to chiropractic neurology) in daily academic and clinical situations. Functional neurological disorders represent a specific type of disease, where "functional" refers to the nature of the disease; functional neurosurgery is an emerging branch of neurosurgery, where "functional" refers to the restoration of function as a result of neurosurgical intervention; functional neurology is a branch of alternative medicine that integrates the theories of chiropractic neurology, rehabilitation, neurology, acupuncture and other disciplines.