Aug

26

Define: Cerebral Palsy

Posted by preciouschild

August 26, 2008 |

What is the Definition of Cerebral Palsy? Cerebral palsy is a term used to describe a group of chronic conditions affecting body movements and muscle coordination.  It is caused by damage to one or more specific areas of the brain, usually occurring during fetal development, or during infancy.  It can also occur before, during or shortly following birth.“Cerebral” refers to the brain and “Palsy” to a disorder of movement or posture.  If someone has cerebral palsy it means that because of an injury to their brain (cerebral) they are not able to use some of the muscles in their body in the normal way (palsy).  Children with cerebral palsy may not be able to walk, talk, eat or play in the same ways as most other children.Cerebral palsy is neither progressive nor communicable.  It is also not “curable” in the accepted sense, although education, therapy and applied technology can help persons with cerebral palsy lead productive lives.  It is important to know that cerebral palsy is not a disease or illness.  It isn’t contagious and it doesn’t get worse.  Children who have cerebral palsy will have it all their lives.Cerebral palsy is characterized by an inability to fully control motor function, particularly muscle control and coordination.  Depending on which areas of the brain have been damaged, one or more of the following may occur:

  • muscle tightness or spasm
  • involuntary movement
  • disturbance in gait and mobility
  • abnormal sensation and perception
  • impairment of sight, hearing or speech
  • seizures

The above information was taken directly from the following website:  www.about-cerebral-palsy.org


 


Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. Andrew Brereton on August 28, 2008 4:45 am

    There are many confusing definitions of cerebral palsy, which focus on symptoms and in doing so take away the focus and treating the cause, - brain injury.

    Cerebral palsy quite simply is an expression of brain injury. It is a collection of commonly occurring symptoms which characterise a specific pattern of brain injury.

  2. singlemom on August 28, 2008 8:17 am

    Thank you for defining this for us. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but feel that I understand it better now.

  3. preciouschild on August 28, 2008 10:55 am

    Andrew - you are right - it is simpler, and diagnostically correct, to define cerebral palsy as a brain injury. Do you have a great website you could share on this topic?

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