What's Cerebral Palsy

 

one male standing with arm crutches and one young girl using a walker. The background is a brick wall with a brain and text says What's Cerebral Palsy

First, welcome to the Living With Disabilities Advocacy Website. It's run by none other than Katrina Smith, who's a person with a learning disability. Her mission behind Living With Disabilities is to bring awareness to all people with disabilities.

Today, Living With Disabilities wants to talk about what's Cerebral Palsy.

 Cerebral Palsy is a congenital disorder of movement, muscle tone, or posture. Some people who have CP can walk, and others may use a wheelchair, walker, forearm crutches.


Cerebral palsy is due to abnormal brain development, often before or after birth.

Symptoms 

Includes amplified reflexes, floppy or rigid limbs, and involuntary motions. That appears in early childhood. A medical mistake by the doctor is what causes Cerebral Palsy after birth)

What a person may experiences 

Muscular: difficulty walking, difficulty with body movements, muscle rigidity, permanent shortening of muscles, the problem with coordination, Stiff muscles, overactive reflexes, involuntary movements, muscle weakness, muscle spasms, or paralysis of one side of the body.

Developmental: Failure to thrive, learning disability, slow growth, or speech delay in a child.

Speech: Speech disorder or stuttering.

Other common experiences: Constipation, difficulty swallowing, drooling, hearing loss, leaking of urine, Paralysis, Physical deformity, scissor gait, seizures, Spastic gait, teeth grinding, tremor, or difficulty raising the foot.

Treatment


Long-term treatment involves physical and other therapies, drugs, and sometimes surgery.

Self-Care: physical exercise and Special education.

Therapy:  Occupational Therapy, Stretching, and physical therapy.

Medication: Muscule relaxant and sedative.

Surgery: Gastrostomy.

Consultant

Pediatric neurologist 

Speech Therapist

Occupational Therapist

Physical medicine and rehabilitation

Physical Therapist

Neurologist

Pediatrician

Primary Care Physician

Types of Cerebral Palsy

1. Quadriplegia: Four limbs are affected, both arms and legs. The muscles of the trunk, face, and mouth are affected too.

2. Diplegia: both legs are affected, The arms may be affected to a lesser extent.

3. Hemiplegia: one side of the body (One arm and one leg) is affected.

4. Spatic: affect both upper or lower limbs.


 If you are concerned that your child is not meeting movement milestones. Reach out to your doctor or nurse to express your concern about your child's physical health. If you or your doctor still have more concerns, ask for a referral to a specialist who is a more in-depth evaluation of your child and assists in making a diagnosis.






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