Cerebral Palsy

The words Cerebral Palsy are used to describe a medical condition that affects control of the muscles. The movement problems vary from barely noticeable to extremely severe. Cerebral means anything in the head and palsy refers to anything wrong with control of the muscles or joints in the body. If someone has cerebral palsy it means that because of an injury to their brain (that's the cerebral part) they are not able to use some of the muscles in their body in the normal way (that's the palsy part). Thus Cerebral Palsy is not a disease or an illness. Children with cerebral palsy have many problems, but not all of them are related to the brain injury. Most of these complications are nevertheless neurological. They include epilepsy, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Problems that occur less commonly, are swallowing problems in children with spastic quadriplegia. Children with cerebral palsy may also develop hip subluxation or have problems with the gait. No two people with cp are the same; it is as individual as people themselves.

Depending on which areas of the brain have been damaged, one or more of the following may occur:  

• Muscle tightness or spasm
• Involuntary movement
• Difficulty with gross motor skills such as walking or running
• Difficulty with fine motor skills such as writing and speaking
• Abnormal perception and sensation

These effects may cause associated problems such as difficulties in feeding, poor bladder and bowel control, breathing problems and pressure sores.

The brain damage, which caused CP, may also lead to other conditions such as:      

• Seizures
• Learning disabilities
• Developmental delay

It is important to remember that limbs affected by CP are not paralyzed and can feel pain, heat, cold and pressure. It is also important to remember that, just because someone with CP may not be able to speak, it does not mean he has nothing to say. The degree of physical disability experienced by a person with CP is not an indication of his level of intelligence.

Children with CP have damage to the area of their brain that controls muscle tone. Depending on where their brain injury is and how big it is, their muscle tone may be too tight, too loose, or a combination of too tight and loose. Muscle tone is what lets us keep our bodies in a certain position, like sitting with our heads up to look at the teacher in class. Changes in muscle tone let us move.

Cerebral palsy may be classified by the type of movement problem (such as spastic or athetoid cerebral palsy) or by the body parts involved (hemiplegia, diplegia, and quadriplegia).