CEREBRAL PALSY : MAJOR TYPES AND SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE

OVERVIEW

Cerebral palsy or simple known as CP is a collective term for the group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to maintain a balanced posture or to move. This type of neurological disorder is the most common form of motor disability in childhood.

In more simpler terms, the term “cerebral” means having something that is relate to the brain and the term “palsy” indicates some problems that an individual has with using the muscles, therefore this complete term “cerebral palsy” indicates having some issue with the muscle movement due to the brain or any other reason that is related to the brain either directly or indirectly.

This type of neurological disorder occurs due to some damage to the immature brain as it develops over a period of time or most often in many cases the damage is already done to the brain before birth itself and the child that is born, is born with this kind of neurological disorder itself.

In this type of neurological disorder the affected person has some issues in impaired movements associated that is usually associated with some abnormal reflexes, floppiness or rigidity of the limbs that is the arms and the legs and the trunk also, an abnormal posture, involuntary movements, unsteady walking or in most severe cases a combination of all of these can be noticed in an individual.

The signs and symptoms of this kind of neurological disorder appear and can be noticed in the preschool years or even during the infancy phase itself.

Individuals those who are suffering from this kind of neurological disorder experience problems with swallowing and most commonly these individuals have issue in eye muscle imbalance and in this the eyes of the person who is affected by this kind of neurological disorder do not focus on the same object

Some affected individuals might also have a reduced range of motion at various joints of the body due to the muscle stiffness.

There are various treatments that are currently available for this kind of disease. But all these treatments work if the diagnosis of this kind of neurological disorder is sine at an early stage or else the affected individual has to live his or her entire life along with this neurological disorder disease.

 

TYPES OF CEREBRAL PALSY

The type of cerebral palsy indicates the kind of neurological disorder the affected person is suffering from. The type of cerebral palsy d=neurological disorder also indicates the exact location in the brain due to which the affected person suffers from this kind of neurological disorder. There are majorly four types of this kind of neurological disorder. The four main type of neurological disorder that are present in this disease are listed and described below :

Spastic cerebral palsy

• This form of this kind of neurological disorder is the most common form of this kind of neurological disorder disease.
• The people who are affected by this form of this kind of neurological disorder have stiff muscles and the movements of these affected people might look very stiff and very jerky.
• The stiffness of the muscles might be due to the messages that are sent to the muscles are incorrect as they are sent from the injured part of the brain.
• The stiff muscles also results from the spasticity which is also a form of hypertonia or an increased muscle tone.
• While the affected person’s limb that is his or her arms or legs are affected by spasticity, the faster the limb is moved by the affected person, the stiffer the muscles becomes.
• The affected person might also have difficulty in moving from one position to the other position and also in controlling individual muscles.

Dyskinetic cerebal palsy

• This form of this kind of neurological disorder is the second most common form of this kind of neurological disorder.
• Dyskinetic cerebral palsy or simply DCP is most typically caused by a non – progressive lesion to either the basal ganglia or the thalamus or both of them.
• This form of this kind of neurological disorder is mainly characterized by abnormal postures or abnormal movements that are usually associated with impaired tone regulation or the movement co – ordination.
• The people who are affected with this kind of neurological disorder have variable movement that are usually involuntary that is in simpler terms outside the control of the affected person.
• the movements that a person experiences while being affected by this kind of disease include twisting and repetitive movements that is most commonly knownly as dystonia, slow and stormy movements that is commonly known as athetosis and dance – like irregular, unpredictable movements that are known as chorea in simple terms.
• The movements in this kind of neurological disorder often co – occur alongside spasticity.

Ataxic cerebral palsy

• Ataxic cerebral palsy as the name itself indicates in the type of neurological disorder in which the affected person’s balance, co – ordination and the depth perception is affected that occurs in case of ataxia that is ataxia occurs along with cerebral palsy.
• This form of this type of neurological disorder is of least diagnostic type, that is it is really difficult to diagnose this form of this type of neurological disorder.
• Individuals those who are affected by this form of this kind of neurological disorder have suffered with the damage of cerebellum
• The movements that a person experiences while being affected by this form of this kind of neurological disorder are often jerky or erratic and these movements might also seem to be clumsy, imprecise or unstable.

 

Mixed cerebral palsy

• This form of this kind of cerebral palsy is most common form that occurs in children.
• In this form of this kind of neurological disorder a child experiences symptoms of multiple types of cerebral palsy that eventually affects the motor and the developmental skills of the affected person.
• As this is “mixed” form of this kind of neurological disorder the person who is affected by this neurological disorder has brain damage in multiple parts of the brain.
• The type of movements that a person experiences in this is a mixture of all types of movements that a person experiences in other forms of this type of neurological disorder

 

SYMPTOMS OF CEREBRAL PALSY

The various symptoms that a person who is affected by this kind of neurological disorder experiences are listed below :

• Variations in muscle tone
• Stiff muscles
• Muscle rigidity
• Lack of balance and muscle coordination (ataxia)
• Tremors or involuntary movements
• Slow, writhing movements
• Delays in reaching motor skills milestones
• Difficulty walking
• Excessive drooling or problems with swallowing
• Difficulty with sucking or eating
• Delays in speech development or difficulty speaking
• Learning difficulties
• Difficulty with fine motor skills, such as buttoning clothes or picking up utensils
• Seizures