The term cerebral refers to ‘cerebrum’ and palsy means ‘movement’. Cerebral palsy is a condition that affects the brain and the functioning of nervous system. It is stated to be the most common congenital disorder of the childhood. This condition leads to impaired movement, learning, hearing, seeing as well as thinking. It is caused by damage or abnormality of the brain. Most of these problems occur during pregnancy, or also can happen at any time during the first two years of life. In many cases, cerebral palsy occurs due to low supply of oxygen (hypoxia) to some parts of the brain or the cerebrum. This can happen either during pregnancy in which the brain either doesn’t develop normally or is damaged due to low supply of oxygen. This can also stem from various infections, maternal health problems or also complication during child delivery.
Cerebral palsy can also occur during the early childhood days due to brain damage. The damage can occur due to lead poisoning, malnutrition due to which the child has low immunity, shaken baby syndrome and meningitis.
There are three types of cerebral palsy; these include spastic, athetoid and ataxic. Spastic cerebral palsy causes inability to bend the limbs. Athetoid cerebral palsy leads to involuntary muscle movements and ataxic Cerebral Palsy disturbs the sense of balance.
Several causes of cerebral palsy include internal bleeding of the brain, several brain infections such as meningitis, herpes simplex infections, encephalitis, etc. Head injury and severe hepatitis also add to the list.
Symptoms of cerebral palsy may be mild to very severe. These comprise of abnormal walk, tight muscles that do not stretch, muscle weakness, tight joints that leads to difficulty in bending the joints, tremors, unsteady gait, paralysis, droopy muscles, loss coordination and abnormal movements of the hands, feet, arms or legs while awake.
Secondary complication of cerebral palsy may include seizures, epilepsy, apraxia, dysarthria or even communication disorders. The child might even develop mental retardation, may have impaired sensory functions, eating problems, etc. Children suffering from cerebral palsy are often born with spinal curvature, small jawbone or a small head.
Cerebral palsy influences muscle control and harmonization. As a result of this, simple movements like standing or sitting are also impaired. Many day-to-day fine motor skills functions like bowel control, bladder control, eating, breathing, etc. are also affected.
Children affected with cerebral palsy should always be taught to be independent as there is no cure to it.
