Welcome to Cerebral Palsy Guide
Featured Cerebral Palsy Article
For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Helping Children With Cerebral Palsy
from: NeoHealthZone.comA neurological disorder that affects children while they are still in utero, during delivery and quite soon after being born is called cerebral palsy. It is an incurable condition resulting from damage to the areas of the brain that control motor function. Children with cerebral palsy can have very mild, hardly noticeable symptoms, to very severe, life-altering occurrences. In this article, we will go over some common questions regarding cerebral palsy.
Defining the disorder called cerebral palsy isn't as simple as just calling it a disorder of movement. There are actually three different types of cerebral palsy; athetoid, spastic and ataxic. Athetoid cerebral palsy causes slow and sluggish involuntary movements or movements that cannot be controlled. Spastic cerebral palsy, on the other hand, is what triggers movement and stiffness problems. Ataxic cerebral palsy causes problems with depth perception and balance. Children with cerebral palsy will show signs of the condition before the age of five.
As of this writing, no one really knows what if the exact cause of cerebral palsy. What researchers do know is that there are several factors found that contribute to the condition. Damage to the brain during developmental stages in utero is said to be a trigger of cerebral palsy. The areas of the brain that are affected are the ones that control motor movements. The biggest unanswered question is why the damage occurs in the first place?
The signs and symptoms of cerebral palsy are a large part of what defines the condition. Early symptoms that occur before a child turns three years old may indicate that the child hasn't developed proper motor skill functioning. That is because cerebral palsy in infants often times will trigger a developmental delay. Parents may notice that their child is not reaching developmental milestone such as rolling over, smiling, crawling, walking or sitting like other children. Other signs include unusual posture, abnormal muscle tone and a difficult pregnancy that involves fevers, bleeding and infection.
Because there is no definite cure for children with cerebral palsy, the best plan of attack is prevention itself. Stopping the damage before it has a chance to occur is the ideal situation. When considering prevention, the steps to take are pretty basic and not difficult to do. Prevention and treatment of infection in the pregnant mother is essential. Maintaining good prenatal health is also ideal. Taking supplements of folate and making sure moms-to-be are immunized are just a few more examples.
Cerebral Palsy News