The Medical Condition Of A Cerebral Palsy Child

Added: 10/08/2007

A cerebral palsy child is one who is born with this condition or who acquires cerebral palsy during his/her early years of life. The disease affects the motor function of the patient. The child loses control over a significant degree of voluntary muscular movement. He/she also experiences difficulty in acquiring speech and may suffer from distorted perception. Cerebral palsy cannot be completely cured by treatment improves the overall quality of the child’s life.

Cerebral palsy is a diseased condition found mainly in children. In a cerebral palsy child, the movement and tone of muscles and his/her motor ability of making coordinated movements is affected. Other health problems associated with cerebral palsy include impairment of hearing and/or vision, difficulty in breathing and acquiring normal speech, and learning problems. In most children who suffer from the disease, it is congenital i.e. present at the time of birth. An estimated half a million individuals (children and grownups) in the United States suffer from cerebral palsy.

The exact causes responsible for cerebral palsy are not precisely known. In a cerebral palsy child, the disease is either already present at birth or develops in the early years of life, usually within the first 5 years. In many children with cerebral palsy, the major organs like the heart, kidneys, and brain (or spine) carry some malformations. The risks for an infant to become a cerebral palsy child include: premature birth, failure to cry in the first five minutes after birth, bleeding in the brain, and seizures in the early years of life.

Possible causes of cerebral palsy may include infections, problems or complications during delivery, or any traumatic event that seriously interferes with the supply of oxygen to the brain. In toddlers, a variety of causes have been suggested as responsible for cerebral palsy. These range from lead poisoning to bacterial infections, and sudden shaking of the toddler during handling or an accident.

Cerebral palsy has been divided into three types: spastic, athetoid, and ataxic. Spastic cerebral palsy causes stiffness and makes movement difficult. Atetoid cerebral palsy results in lack of control over voluntary movements, leading to involuntary and uncontrollable movements of the muscles. Ataxic cerebral palsy affects the normal sense of balance and also causes distorted perception. In any case, it has been observed that the severity of the disease does not increase in a cerebral palsy child with time. In other words, a cerebral palsy case does not grow worse over time.

The diagnosis of cerebral palsy depends on how early the cerebral palsy child shows signs of abnormal development. In many cases, doctors are not able to identify with confidence the presence of the condition until 4 to 7 months when the child does not show the same level of coordinated movements as seen in normal, healthy children.

As the exact causes of cerebral palsy are not yet known, there is no cure for completely healing a cerebral palsy child. However, different types of therapies and treatment procedures are applied to make the child as functional as possible. Medication, therapy, and braces are prescribed for enhancing muscle movements. Surgery is also performed in some cases to correct abnormalities of the spine and repair dislocated joints-conditions that are frequently associated with cerebral palsy. In some severe cases, medication is administered for a cerebral palsy child by implanting a baclofen pump under his/her skin.

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