Birth Injury Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Cerebral Palsy’

By William Chang

Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that usually affect the motor function of the person who has it. Cerebral palsy is not a progressive disease, meaning that the symptoms do not get either worse or better with time. Cerebral palsy usually affects either one or both of the arms and legs, though it seems to be a disorder related to brain injuries.

The exact cause of cerebral palsy is often difficult to pin down but has been directly linked to some injury to the brain or nerves before, during, or shortly after birth. Cerebral palsy can also occur from injuries or diseases sustained in early childhood, usually in the first two years of life.

Cerebral palsy can range in severity from just a slight arm or leg problem to very serious cerebral palsy, which can lead to complete immobility and a paralysis of several organs and limbs. Speech, eating, and learning impediments can also accompany cerebral palsy. The symptoms stay the same throughout the cerebral palsy sufferer’s life.

Cerebral palsy is a very common disorder that seems to be becoming more prevalent. Since cerebral palsy is often not diagnosed until a child is two years old, if the disorder is a mild case especially, then numbers are often not reported in a timely fashion. Over 500,000 people in the US have the disorder. Read the rest of this entry »

Cerebral relates to brain and palsy is paralysis, giving Cerebral Palsy (CP) the meaning “Brain Paralysis”. Cerebral palsy refers to a group of conditions that affect movement, balance and posture. This condition usually is diagnosed by 3 years of age. About 2 to 3 children in 1,000 are affected. Affected children have abnormalities in one or more parts of the brain that affect the ability to control muscles. Symptoms range from mild to severe but do not get worse as the child gets older. With treatment, most children can significantly improve their abilities.

Is Cerebral palsy hereditary?
There is no concrete evidence to prove that the cerebral palsy is transmitted from mother to the offspring through gene, but there are few observations and study information collected reopens the topic of genetic influence in cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy incidence is more in mothers who are suffering from mental retardation and it was seen that cerebral palsy occurrence is more in mothers who used to have mild seizures.
Cerebral palsy usually is caused by factors that disrupt normal development of the brain before birth. In some cases, genetic defects may contribute to brain malformations and “miswiring” of nerve cell connections in the brain, resulting in cerebral palsy. It is seen that Cerebral palsy reoccurs in certain families. The percentage of occurrence is 10%. If the child born prior to this child is dead at birth, and then the chance of the child born getting cerebral palsy is more. The incidence of cerebral palsy is more to the younger brothers or sisters born to the child with motor deficit.
As of now, the possibility of hereditary transmission of cerebral palsy is not confirmed though there are suspicion that it might be hereditary.

By John Mancini

There are three types of cerebral palsy. Spastic cerebral palsy means a person can not relax their muscles or their muscles are permanently stiff. Athetoid cerebral palsy means that the patient can not control the movement of their muscles and may regularly suffer from involuntary movements of the affected areas. Ataxic cerebral palsy means the patient will struggle with balance and coordination. Cerebral palsy can differ in it’s severity from mild to very severe. Very severe cerebral palsy will usually necessitate the use of a wheelchair and the parts of the brain that control speech and other functions may be effected.

1- An Orthopedist can help alleviate some of the problems and may be able to slow down problems that are associated with cerebral palsy. The orthopedist will be able to tell you any physical exercises or other forms of treatment that may be required and your doctor should instantly refer you to an orthopedist for further help.

2- There are no tests that can determine whether or not a child has cerebral palsy although doctors will use x-rays and other scans and tests to help determine the extent and severity of the disease. Doctors are very good at diagnosing cerebral palsy and also at explaining what is required to the patient’s parents.

3- It is not always immediately obvious if a child has cerebral palsy and it may only surface when the child is around 18 months old and trying to sit or crawl. Most cases should be diagnosed by the time the child gets any older than this.

4- There is no cure for cerebral palsy but the patient will be given medication to help control seizures or spasms. Conversely, the cerebral palsy itself will not get any worse. If a child is born with cerebral palsy that affects the legs they will not develop cerebral palsy in the arms as well. However, the legs themselves will deteriorate over time and other conditions may develop. This is why it is vitally important to get the appropriate therapy as soon as possible.

5- Cerebral palsy does not ordinarily stop children from attending school and leading normal lives for the main part. Obviously, there will be some activities that they won’t be able to take part in. It will take a good level of understanding from staff and students alike to give children with cerebral palsy the extra time they need to speak or get around. A child with cerebral palsy knows what they want to say it just takes a little longer and they should be given the opportunity to finish sentences themselves.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Mancini

Cerebral palsy could be diagnosed in different signs depending on the age of your baby. Getting difficult on breathing, suckling and evacuating the bowels could be the signs of cerebral palsy for your newborn infant. for infants, unussual reflexes may be occured. In a growing of your infant, the signs of cerebral palsy presence are the using of one part of the body over the other and facilitating certain movement over others. Another signs of cerebral palsy include distress on facial expressions, responding the sounds and movements, roll over, crawl, walk, smile and other. they also can not play with their toys.

Different types of cerebral palsy have different signs. Spastic diplegics are indicated with “scissors” gait of foot. spastic hemiparesis are signed with uncontrol movement. athetoid cerebral palsy are signed with grimacing, drooling and slow writhing movement. Ataxic cerebral palsy is occured due to unsteady motoric when perform movements.

See your physician immediatelly when you find something wrong with your infant such as unussual movement or posture and delaying of development of your child.

Cerebral palsy or CP is a common term that includes people with disabilities in neurological function associated with movement and posture. This disease is not progressive, and starts from the disruptions in the child’s brain development during pregnancy, childbirth or after.

What causes Cerebral Palsy?
The reasons or causes of genealogical cerebral palsy, has not yet been assured. Though, the children born under certain conditions are at high risk of its development. These conditions include: premature birth, the presence of a brain haemorrhage, the child requiring ventilator for more than 4 weeks, undersized child who does not cry during the first 5 minutes after delivery, the internal system disturbances in the kidneys, spine or heart, and the occurrence of seizures.

A few cases of cerebral palsy due to head injuries in early childhood and may occur after acute malnutrition, infections, or extreme head trauma in infancy and early childhood.

What types of cerebral palsy?
Spastic and athetoid cerebral palsy refers to a problem of movement, while quadriplegia, hemiplegia, and diplegia refers to certain parts of the body involved in the state. Spastic cerebral palsy refers to the inability to relax the muscles, and athetoid CP refers to a lack the movement control of muscle. In the spastic type may occur along with other species, and rightly so, as a rule, about 30% of cases of cerebral palsy. Read the rest of this entry »