Taking a Look at Cerebral Palsy

2073 Words5 Pages

Cerebral Palsy is nonprogressive and it is disorders of movement. This disorder occurs because of some functional problems in the brain during early development. Cerebral Palsy makes some problems in infancy such as problems with motion, balance, muscle strength and coordination. These problems continue into later life. Moreover, Cerebral Palsy may affect muscles of breathing, swallowing and speech. Other problems such as intellectual disabilities and seizure may occur (Torpy, & Lynm, 2010). Cerebral Palsy has different ranges from subclinical abnormalities to severe impairments (Cerebral palsy, 2011). Two to two and half out of every 1000 live births have Cerebral Palsy. Most of these children experience other nonmotor problems too (Cerebral palsy, 2011). In the United States, between 765,000 and 1,000,000 children and adults live with Cerebral Palsy. The number of children with Cerebral Palsy is increasing, because of increasing survival of low birth weight infants and longevity of Cerebral Palsy adults (Glew & Bennett, 2011). There are three different types of Cerebral Palsy, which are Spastic, Dyskinetic and Ataxic. Spastic Cerebral Palsy makes the muscles of the body to be tight, so the normal movement does not allowed. Dyskinetic (Athetoid) Cerebral Palsy causes involuntary movements of body such as moving arms and legs without control. Ataxic Cerebral Palsy causes the person to have poor balance and coordination (Torpy, & Lynm, 2010). Children with Cerebral palsy have different severity in their disability and the severity affects outcomes. There are five levels of Gross Motor Functional Classification Systems. These levels are based on the ability to movement to show the severity of Cerebral Palsy. Children with GMFCS leve... ... middle of paper ... ...bnormal postures, improve balance, develop fundamental movement and reduce or increase tone. Some of the most popular therapies are massage, aquatherapy and hippotherapy. Medications also help to treat muscle contractures, pain, sleep and etc. moreover, massages relief the child’s pain temporary (Green & Hurvitz, 2007). Some of the non-pharmacological treatments are occupational therapy, speech therapy, physiotherapy, or combination of some of these methods. These methods help children to improve their motions, muscle strength, motor development and weaken spastic agonist muscles. Medical and surgical interventions are successful besides physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Moreover, different approaches help children to delay or prevent deformity and maximize activity. These therapies improve children’s health, life and self-esteem. (Koman, Smith & Shilt, 2004).

Open Document