Hey Cerebral Palsy 

Cerebral palsy is caused by the abnormal development of the brain or damage to the developing brain. This is the part of the brain that affects a child’s ability to control their muscles. Cerebral palsy is the most common physical disability in childhood. The abnormal development or damage in the brain has possible causes, such as lack of oxygen during the birth process. Abnormal development of the brain or damage that leads to cp can happen before or during birth, within a month after birth, or even during the firsts years of child’s life, while the brain is still developing.

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Causes of cerebral palsy  

In many cases, the cause of cerebral palsy is not known, but many factors may lead to issues with brain development. Some of these problems include:  

• Gene mutations (gene mutations may result in differences in brain development or genetic disorders)  

• Maternal infections (infections during pregnancy may affect the developing fetus)  

• Fetal stroke (a fetal stroke is a disruption of blood supply to the developing brain of the fetus)  

• Bleeding into the brain (happens in the womb or as a newborn)  

• Infant infections (Infant infections can inflammation in or around the brain)  

• Traumatic head injury (traumatic head injury to an infant, such as a fall, physical abuse, or a motor vehicle accident)  

• Lack of oxygen (a lack of oxygen to the brain related to difficult labor or delivery, However, birth-related asphyxia is less common than thought)  

 

Different Types of cerebral palsy  

The types of  spastic Cerebral Palsy are:  

• Spastic diplegia/disparesis 

• Spastic hemiplegia/hemiparesis 

• Spastic quadriplegia/quadriparesis 

• Mixed cerebral palsy  

• Dyskinetic cerebral palsy 

• Ataxic cerebral palsy  

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Spastic diplegia/disparesis (= leg stiffness)  

Muscle stiffness is mainly in the legs, the arms are less affected or not affected. There is a difficulty with walking, because there is a phenomenon called scissoring: tight hip and leg muscles cause the legs to pull together, turn inward and cross at the knees. 

  

Spastic hemiplegia/hemiparesis (affects 1 side of body)  

Only affects one side of a persons body. The arm is usually more affected than the leg.  

  

Spastic quadriplegia/quadriparesis (severe form of cerebral Palsy)  

Most severe form of spastic cerebral palsy. It affects all four limbs, face, and trunk. People with this type of cerebral Palsy can usually not walk, and have other developmental disabilities such as:  

• Intellectual disability 

• Seizures 

• Problems with vision/speech/hearing  

  

Dyskinetic Cerebral palsy  

(Includes athetoid, choreoathetoid, dystonic cerebral palsies)  

People with this type of cerebral palsy have: 

•  difficulties with the controlling of the hand, arms, feet and legs movement.  

This makes walking and sitting difficult. Somethings the person also has a difficult time with sucking, swallowing and talking, since the face and tongue could be affected.  A person with this type of cerebral palsy has muscle tone that can change from day to day, but also during a single day. The muscle tone then varies from too tight to too loose.  

  

Ataxic cerebral Palsy (balance and coordination issues)   

People with this type of cerebral palsy have issues with balance and coordination, causing unsteadiness when walking. Also, making quick movements or movements that need a lot of control (like writing) might be difficult. Furthermore, controlling hands and arms when reaching for something might also be a problem 

  

Mixed Cerebral Palsy  

it is possible that people have symptoms of more than one type of cerebral palsy. Therefore, the most common type of mixed cerebral palsy is spastic-dyskinetic cerebral palsy 

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Diagnosis 

It is important to diagnose cerebral palsy at an early age. The signs of cerebral palsy varies a lot, since there are many different types and levels of disability. However, there are main signs that a child can have: delay reaching motor or movement milestones (rolling over, sitting, walking, standing.) However, these signs do not necessarily have to indicate that a child has cerebral palsy. Diagnosing cerebral palsy can take several steps, such as developmental monitoring, developmental screening, and developmental and medical evaluations.

 

Symptoms  

(most common symptoms of cerebral palsy)  

• Being floppy or stiff 

• Exaggerated reflexes 

• Muscle weakness 

• Lack of muscle coordination 

• There are uncontrolled body movements 

• There are problems with balance and coordination 

• There are problems with swallowing, sucking, eating 

• The person uses one side of the body to reach for things 

• There is a delay in learning to speak 

 

These symptoms can either be mild or severe and usually appear in the first 2 years of a child’s life.  

Other conditions that may come with cerebral palsy are;

• Intellectual disability 

• Epilepsy 

• Delayed growth 

• Spinal deformities 

• Troubles with seeing, hearing, speaking.  

 

Other issues may occur for people with cerebral palsy, since the damage to the brain can contribute to other neurological problems.  

• Seizures (epilepsy)  

• Hearing difficulties 

• Issues with vision and abnormal eye movements 

• Abnormal touch or pain sensations 

• Bowel and bladder problems, including constipations and urinary incontinence. 

• Mental health issues, like emotional disorders and behavioral problems 

  

Since cerebral palsy is caused by a brain disorder, it does not change with time and the symptoms usually don’t worsen with age. However when a child diagnosed with cerebral palsy gets older, some symptoms might become more or less apparent. Also, muscle rigidity and muscle shortening can worsen if not treated intensely.  

 

Treatments 

Currently, there is no cure for cerebral palsy. However, treatment can improve the lives of people diagnosed with cerebral palsy. It is important to start the treatment program as early as possible.

 

Common treatments include:  

• Medicines 

• Surgery  

• Braces 

 

Physical treatments:  

• Occupational therapy 

• Speech therapy 

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Preventing cerebral Palsy 

Cerebral palsy is related to genetics and is therefore not preventable. However, certain actions can be taken before and during pregnancy, and after birth that can help reduce the risk of developmental problems, including cerebral palsy. Acquired cerebral Palsy is related to injury or an infection, which can be prevented in some cases.  

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Hand Spasms 

There is already research being done on how to strengthen wrists, hands and fingers for children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Here it is said that certain exercises can help improve strength and stability with will greatly affect fine motor skills as well. These exercises are kneading salt dough (playdough), squeezing games with bottles, toothpast tubes, stressballs or playdough in a plastic bag then you have clothes pegs, tongs and tweezers, nuts and bolts, paper scrunching and cutting. All these exercises next to being entertaining also strengthen precision and strength. When testing our first idea ‘the stressballs’ we noticed that besides keeping our participant busy it also gave some relaxation through spasm relief. By excersising those muscles in his hand and fingers he became more relaxed and trained as well. Therefore trying out the different techniques from movement experts about improving fine motor skills might also be nice to try 

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