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What is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy is a term used to describe a group of chronic conditions affecting body movement and muscle coordination. It is caused by damage to one or more specific areas of the brain, usually occurring during fetal development; before, during, or shortly after birth; or during infancy. Thus, these disorders are not caused by problems in the muscles or nerves. Instead, faulty development or damage to motor areas in the brain disrupt the brain's ability to adequately control movement and posture.

"Cerebral" refers to the brain and "palsy" to muscle weakness/poor control. Cerebral palsy itself is not progressive (i.e. brain damage does not get worse); however, secondary conditions, such as muscle spasticity, can develop which may get better over time, get worse, or remain the same. Cerebral palsy is not communicable. It is not a disease and should not be referred to as such. Although cerebral palsy is not "curable" in the accepted sense, training and therapy can help improve function.

Cerebral Palsy can be caused by injury during birth, although sometimes it is the result of damage done while the baby is still in the womb or later damage shortly after birth. Symptoms usually appear in the first few years of life and once they appear, they generally do not worsen over time.

Types of Cerebral Palsy:

• Spastic Cerebral Palsy or Spastic Diplegia (difficult or stiff movement)
  Ataxic Cerebral Palsy (loss of depth perception and balance)
  Athetoid/Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy (uncontrolled or involuntary movements)
  Mixed Cerebral Palsy (a mix of two or more of the above)
  Hypotonic Cerebral Palsy
  Mild Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy Symptoms:

• Chronic Symptoms
  Hemiplegia
  Quadriplegia
  Adult Symptoms
  Child Symptoms
  Infant Symptoms

Causes

Simply put, brain damage causes cerebral palsy . The brain damage can occur before, during or after birth. Most cases of brain damage causing cerebral palsy occur before a baby is born.

Cerebral palsy is a term used to describe a group of disorders characterized by a disruption of motor control . When areas of the brain responsible for movement, balance and muscular control either develop incorrectly or are damaged, the result can be cerebral palsy. The part of the brain damaged determines the symptoms of cerebral palsy. The severity of the symptoms depends on the severity of the brain damage. Sometimes brain damage occurs early in the pregnancy as a result of problems with blood supply to the fetus' brain. Sometimes damage occurs later in pregnancy after the brain has already formed, as the child is delivered or in the first years of life. How brain damage occurs is not always known. Doctors have identified several risk factors for cerebral palsy . Expectant mothers should avoid these risk factors to lower the possibility of having a child with cerebral palsy.

Types

People with cerebral palsy have damaged the area of their brain which controls muscle tone. Muscle tone describes the state of our muscles' readiness to contract or release. The amount of tension or resistance present in our muscles allows us to move or hold our bodies in position. The brain uses electrochemical signals to control and balance muscle tone. People with cerebral palsy's brains have lost the ability to appropriately control the electrochemical signals sent to different muscle groups. They suffer from increased, decreased or fluctuating muscle control depending on what part of their brain is damaged. There are several types of cerebral palsy, including the following -

Symptoms

Cerebral palsy is difficult to detect at birth. Two early indicators of cerebral palsy in infants are abnormal muscle tone or the tendency to favor one side of the body over the other. If your infant seems unusually floppy or limp it could be a sign of hypotonia, meaning reduced muscle tone. If your infant seems excessively rigid or unbendable it could be a sign of hypertonia, meaning increased muscle tone. While typically an infant is affected with either hypertonia or hypotonia, sometimes an infant will endure an early bout of hypotonia only to progress to hypertonia after a few months. Other early symptoms of cerebral palsy in infants involve poor control over mouth muscles. Excessive vomiting, gagging or other feeding problems are sometimes lead to other more advanced cerebral palsy symptoms.

It is difficult to detect cerebral palsy until children start reaching development milestones. However, specific kinds of cerebral palsy do have some early indicators. For example, statistics show 70 % of cerebral palsy cases are of a specific type of the disorder called spastic. Early symptoms of spastic cerebral palsy include the drawing in of arms and legs or difficulty in straightening an infant's limbs. Dyskinetic cerebral palsy, another type of the disorder, can cause infants to writhe involuntarily in an irregular motion.

Learn more about cerebral palsy symptoms in babies.

Treatment

There is no standard treatment or therapy for cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy affects each person differently so treatment must be individually tailored as well. Since there is no cure for cerebral palsy, most doctors focus on finding treatment and therapy geared toward managing or diminishing the neurological problems associated with cerebral palsy.

Therapy and treatments for the symptoms of cerebral palsy are numerous. Most experts agree a combination of treatments, given in conjunction, produce the best results. A cerebral palsy victim's healthcare team work together to prescribe a balanced regimen of treatments designed to increase quality of life.

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