What is Cerebral Palsy (CP)?
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a disorder of movement and posture due to damage to or failure to develop normally in a small part of brain controlling these activities. The brain is not able to send proper signals to the muscles, affecting gait and other movement. Sometimes children and adults with CP also have learning difficulties or problems with sensory abilities such as hearing and sight.
CP is non-progressive, meaning that it does not get worse over time. CP is not a disease and it certainly is not catching.
CP can take many forms. Some people are so lightly affected that they appear to have no obvious disabilities while others may be clumsy in their gait, can affect one side of the body or both sides or only both lower limbs which is more common in children born prematurely, or they may have difficulty with their hands or with muscles involved in speech, chewing and swallowing. Some individuals with more severe forms of CP are unable to stand or sit and may require wheelchairs or special equipment.
CP often occurs before birth or sometime during delivery. It is estimated that a child with CP is born once in 500 live births, without any distinction of sex, race, maternal age or social background. CP can also occur during the early years of a child’s development as the result of brain damage in the first few months or years of life, brain infections such as bacterial meningitis or viral encephalitis, or head injury from a motor vehicle accident, a fall or child abuse. The cause in about a quarter of CP patient remains unknown even in today’s medical practice.
CP is not curable, but it is treatable. The course of treatment depends on type of CP, severity of symptoms and at what stage treatment is initiated. Treatment includes physical therapy to develop stronger muscles, occupational therapy (helping participants to develop fine motor skills for specific tasks such as dressing, feeding and writing), and speech-language therapy which focuses on developing communication skills and chewing, swallowing techniques.
Surgery, medication, orthotic devices (such as braces), communication devices (such as printed communication cards and boards) and computer technology are also widely used in treatments.
Alternative therapies such as acupuncture have also shown some promise in treating symptoms of CP , but again, it depends on the type of CP, severity of symptoms and how early treatment is initiated.
