Cerebral Palsy in Kids – An analysis of Causes and Treatments

Cerebral Palsy in Kids – An analysis of Causes and Treatments

 Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a term that covers a wide scope of disorders that is related to muscle synchronization. We know that ‘cerebral’ is something related to the brain and ‘palsy’ means weakness related to body movement. Studies suggest that this disease affects 1.5 to 4 out of every thousand children globally. Cerebral Palsy is the most common form of motor impairment in children.  Cerebral Palsy affects one’s movement, body balance, and posture. In some cases, it also leads to intellectual disability, issues with vision, hearing or speech problems, scoliosis, seizures, and joint issues.  Someone with a severe degree of cerebral palsy may need an external aid while walking, or may not be able to walk at all throughout his life. One with a milder degree of CP, may have issues with walking and develop an awkward gait.

Causes:  Cerebral Palsy has many causes; often it is due to the abnormal development of the brain or damage caused to the developing part of the brain that leads to the child often losing control over his muscle movements. There are again a variety of reasons that cause the abnormality in the brain. One common conjecture related to the inception of CP is the insufficiency of oxygen during the birth process. But, recent studies have shown this is responsible only for a few numbers of cases.  The damage to the brain that causes Cerebral palsy can happen anytime during the formative years of a child while his brain is still developing. It is termed as ‘Congenital CP’ if the damage to the child’s brain has happened before or during birth. Majority cases of Cerebral palsy reported are congenital in nature. There are also certain cases of this disorder when the causes remain unknown, or a specific cause cannot be identified. ‘

Acquired CP’ is the condition when the damage to brain happens after 28 days of a child’s birth.

Acquired CP is often accompanied by infections such as meningitis or head injury.

A few common causes of cerebral palsy can be attributed to: ·

Lack of oxygen to the brain during birth - ‘asphyxia neonatorum.’

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A case of mutation of a gene that leads to abnormal development of the brain

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Traumatic head Injuries caused by a car accident or a fall

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Severe jaundice of the baby

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Infections of the brain like bacterial meningitis or viral encephalitis

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Bleeding into the brain - ‘intracranial hemorrhage.’

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Seizures during birth or within a few months of birth

Treatment of Cerebral Palsy ďƒź Cerebral Palsy is a matter of concern, and several treatment options are there to bring in improvement in the child’s daily life. It is imperative to understand in this context that children who have this neuro-muscular disorder are children with special needs. Though there are the doctor and his therapy, there are other ways in which one needs to boost the morale of these kids with CP and try to make their lives easy and comparatively normal. ďƒź No two kids have the same conditions of cerebral palsy. Hence no two families will have the same experience dealing with it. Majority of the efforts should go in trying to make your child feel that he is like a normal kid. Treatment generally is dependent on the type of cerebral palsy the kid is suffering from.

Physical Therapy: ďƒź The American Physical Therapy Association strongly recommends physical therapy for a child with Cerebral Palsy. This involves a series of training sessions for the child’s muscles that will enable him to cope with his physical disabilities. A professional therapist adept at this physical therapy is needed to ensure optimal results from this. The most common activities included in such physical therapy sessions are customized strength exercises, therapeutic endurance exercises, and practice for body balance, stretching and training for joint mobilization. ďƒź Specialized activities like dancing, ball throwing, and swimming can also be undertaken but with enhanced caution and careful assistance. For the children who are unable to move without a physical aid, specialized computers, wheelchairs or braces can be used to impart the physical therapy.

Surgery: Surgeries are mainly undertaken to alleviate the pain a child is suffering from due to CP, or this could be done to prevent some deformities in the child or to increase the mobility of the child.

Surgeries can range from orthopedic surgeries to hearing surgeries including all possible surgeries for different medical needs.

Medicines: Medicines are mainly used to control the pain arising due to different effects of the CP disorder and to deal with all associated complications that arise because of this disorder. Again the type of medicine a child needs depends on the severity of CP and the differently associated complications he has. Muscle relaxants, seizure medication, and anticholinergic medication are the broad categories of medicines mainly used for this condition.

Alternative and Complimentary Treatment Most of the alternative and complementary treatments for the cerebral palsy are not approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. There are but many successful reports of this kind of therapy. The following are the most commonly used methods of treating CP under the umbrella of Alternative and Complementary Treatment: • Electrical Simulation • Acupuncture • Massage Therapy • Healing through energy-channeling • Alternative Learning • Electric Simulation • Equestrian Therapy • Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

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