Cerebral Palsy has numerous textbook definitions. To name a few they include:
- Cerebral Palsy is a persistent disorder of movement and posture caused by non-progressive pathological processes of the immature brain
Aicardi and Bax, 1992, Diseases of the Nervous System in Childhood
- Cerebral Palsy is a persistent, but not unchanging disorder of movement and posture due to non-progressive disorder of the immature brain
Brett, 1991, Paediatric Neurology
- An umbrella term covering a group of non-progressive, but often changing, motor impairment syndromes secondary to lesions or anomalies of the brain arising in the early stages of development
Mutch et al, DMCN, 1992
But what does this ACTUALLY mean to you and your child?
When a doctor first mentions the words "cerebral palsy" (CP) to you, it understandably causes panic, distress and opens up the complete unknown. It doesn't have to be like this as Southern Children's Physiotherapy can work with you to maximise your child's ability and not their disability.
Cerebral Palsy is an umbrella terms that describes an event that has taken place in your child’s brain either whilst they were still in the womb, during birth or in the early part of their life. This damage to the brain does not change, but it does affect how your child develops.
Your child may have physical difficulties – affecting their posture and movement, learning difficulties (known as their cognitive development), visual, auditory or perceptual problems. It can also have an impact on their emotional state, their social development and/or their sensory motor experience. Some children may even have associated problems such as epilepsy.
It is these problems that affect how your child learns to explore their environment and develop as a person. The effect of these problems can be limited if your child is managed in the appropriate way, and at SCP we aim to help your child to maximise your child’s ability to move, to learn, to explore; thus developing as an individual.
You may have heard certain terms/words mentioned to describe the different types of Cerebral Palsy. These are:
- Spastic (stiffness)
- Hypotonic (flaccid, floppy)
- Ataxic (poor balance, difficulty planning movement)
- Athetoid (Fluctuating postural tone/involuntary movements/un-sustained/unsteady postural control)
What these actually mean is another question! Hemiplegia is one side of the body, quadriplegia is all four limbs and diplegia is when your child’s legs are affected more so than their arms.
There are probably so many other questions that you have about Cerebral Palsy. At Southern Children’s Physiotherapy we are happy to answer them/discuss any of these queries with you. Please feel free to call us to chat anything through.
It is important to feel that you are not dealing with this alone.
