Brainpalsy.com – Helping Parents Combat Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy actually affects so many of us that research continues to find out how to prevent the condition. Since it has no known cure to this date, prevention of the condition during pregnancy is usually stressed. There are, however, several treatments available to keep symptoms at bay. If you’re looking for cerebral palsy definition, there’s a lot more information these days than in previous years. This article will discuss the common questions regarding cerebral palsy.

So what exactly is cerebral palsy? When a child turns 3 years old, he or she is most likely able to coordinate motor movements such as sitting, walking, clapping, talking and smiling. However, if a child at this age is still unable to do those basic movements then he or she has a higher possibility of having cerebral palsy. In short, cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect motor movements and muscle coordination.

To this date no one knows what the exact cause of cerebral palsy is. But there have been several factors found to contribute to the condition. Damage to a certain area or areas of the brain during the developmental stages is said to trigger cerebral palsy. The areas affected are said to be those parts in the brain that control motor movements. The unanswered question is why the damage occurs in the first place.

Here is the basic cerebral palsy definition: “Cerebral” means brain and “palsy” refers to a disorder of posture or movement. The brain keeps on developing from the fetal stage in early pregnancy until the child is around 3 years old. Because cerebral palsy has a lot to do with the developing brain, it can occur before, during or after birth. The condition is not known to affect a child once the development of the brain is complete. For instance, a child who has no signs of cerebral palsy at 5 years of age is unlikely to have cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy definition isn’t limited to just one. There are actually 3 types of cerebral palsy, which are spastic cerebral palsy, Athetoid cerebral palsy and Ataxic cerebral palsy. Spastic cerebral palsy is what triggers stiffness and movement problems. Athetoid cerebral palsy on the other hand causes sluggish involuntary movements, or movements that are uncontrollable. Finally, Ataxic cerebral palsy causes problems in balance and perceiving depth.

So just how many individuals have cerebral palsy? In the United States alone there are almost 800,000 children and adults who experience a symptom or symptoms of cerebral palsy. It is estimated that around 10,000 babies born in the country will have cerebral palsy.

The signs of the condition are a large part of cerebral palsy definition. Early signs that occur before a child turns 3 years of age may show that the child hasn’t developed any motor skills. Cerebral palsy in infants will often trigger a developmental delay. Parents may notice that their child is not reaching developmental stages in which rolling over, crawling, smiling, walking or sitting aren’t being achieved. Other signs include abnormal muscle tone, unusual posture and a difficult pregnancy involving bleeding, fevers and infection.

Many are now aware of the cerebral palsy definition. Although there is still no cure, scientists and researchers have found possible ways to prevent cerebral palsy from developing in the first place. For instance, the administration of immunizations and folate during pregnancy is found to possibly prevent cerebral palsy in the child.

The detection of cerebral palsy is highly subjective. It is diagnosed mainly by looking at the way a child moves plus his or her muscle tone. As such, some doctors may conclude that a certain child has cerebral palsy while some may say otherwise. This is very much true with children who have mild cerebral palsy.

A child with mild cerebral palsy may appear normal in most instances. However, he or she fails to do some normal things like walking flat-footed. This is something that can be controlled, however, by reminding the child to do the activity normally.

Because mild cerebral palsy is only associated with very mild symptoms, children suffering from it sometimes find it hard to get medical assistance. One reported case of mild cerebral palsy involved a school denying physical a child because her motor skills were considered normal. This is one of the major frustrations of parents who have children with cerebral palsy. When the child with mild cerebral palsy shows normal mental abilities, he or she often finds it hard to get necessary assistance even if there are lapses in some areas of motor development.

But the major frustration of parents with children who have cerebral palsy is the possible effect of their minor abnormal motor skills on their self-esteem. Other people often see their children as perfectly normal as they can show normal mental abilities. However, when it comes to doing other physical tasks, they may be seen as showing signs of abnormality. People then mislabel them with harsh descriptions. When such labels get into the mind of the child, he or she develops a complex and low self-esteem.

To remedy this, parents are advised to often remind their children of their special roles in their lives. Words of encouragement should be given to them frequently. This way, they can help their children develop a higher regard for one’s self.

The most simple answer as to why a child is suffering from cerebral palsy is because they have suffered some form of damage to their brain. Normally such damage will have occurred before, during or after the child has been born. But in order to find out which kind of injury to the brain and the causes of cerebral palsy a doctor will need to carry out various medical and neurological tests on the child.

Unfortunately when medical professionals are investigating why the child has suffered a brain injury find it difficult to know what for sure had caused it. Because they are unable to discover what has caused the initial injury to the childs brain they also find it difficult to have ways of preventing it in the first place. But in many cases where a child is suffering from cerebral palsy there are two injuries to their brain which can be the cause of them suffering from this particular condition.

The first is because the childs brain has been unable to develop properly and is commonly referred to as developmental brain malformation. Unfortunately with this kind of injury to the brain there is very little chance available medically to help prevent such an injury occurring.

The other cause for a child to suffer brain damage whilst still in their mothers womb or as they are being born or after they have been born is through a recognized injury. The kinds of injuries that fall in to this category are infections (such as meningitis), blood has been allowed to bleed into the brain or the child has not been provided with sufficient amounts of oxygen to their brain. Around 10 to 15% of all children who suffer from cerebral palsy will have been caused by such injuries.

Also a large proportion of the cases of cerebral palsy to be found in young children today have been caused through medical mistakes and could therefore have been easily prevented. Often a large number of children who have cerebral palsy will have suffered from some kind of brain damage when they were being delivered and therefore could easily have been prevented.

But just how bad a childs cerebral palsy is will depend on how severe the damage to their brain was. For a baby who is born prematurely and suffers from an intraventricular haemorrhage (bleeding into the brain) will suffer from very extensive brain damage.

Above we have explained some of the causes of cerebral palsy in children today and on average around 6,000 new cases are presenting themselves in the USA each year. Currently the medical bill to cover the costs of caring for such children in the USA alone is running at around $20 billion a year. But the biggest question being asked by many parents today whose child suffers from cerebral palsy was if it could have been prevented or not?