Cerebral palsy is a form of brain damage that affects the motor skills of children. It is a result of damage that occurs during pregnancy, at birth or within three years of age and there is no cure. This means that those suffering this debilitating condition will suffer its ill effects their entire lives. Stiff muscles and muscle contractions are the symptoms of one of the most common forms of CP; spastic cerebral palsy.
Spastic cerebral palsy causes the muscles to stiffen; making movement difficult. During normal muscle functioning, muscles work in pairs. Each has two sets of nerve pathways; pathways that route signals to the brain and pathways that receive the signal. Normally, both work in tandem with each other to ensure free movement.
In the case of a person with spastic CP, both sets of nerves become active together. This floods the nervous system with messages, which causes a traffic jam of signals to be created. Eventual tenseness in the muscles is created, which in turn causes the muscles to malfunction. The muscles in the areas affected will become stiff and when they are forced to stretch, they may cause sudden, jerky movements.
Muscle involvement may differ from person to person, although the muscles of the legs and arms seem to be the most affected body parts of an individual suffering from spastic CP. There are a few variations of this disorder. One is spastic diplegia. It is a type of spastic cerebral palsy where the leg muscles are severely affected. So much so that the legs turn in and cross at the knees. With spastic diplegia, a person can experience stiffness of their legs when they try to walk.
Another form is spastic hemiplegia. It involves half of each limb being severely affected. This type is generally diagnosed when a physician examines an infant for hand preference. An infant less than one year of age does not show any type of hand preference. If an infant is affected with spastic hemiplegia, however, the child will show hand preference on the affected side of the body.
The treatment for individuals affected with the spastic form of cerebral palsy involves a combination of physical therapy and surgery. The muscles as well as the joints are exercised to stop them from falling into a state of immobility. When muscles and joints, which have not been exercised, are combined with abnormal and poor posture, there is a great tendency for the muscles to begin to shorten, resulting in limited flexibility and movements.
Spastic CP can become aggravated over a period of time, unlike other cerebral palsy conditions. Unless it is treated, it can lead to permanent disabilities like loss of bladder control, uncontrollable shaking and a condition where a person is unable to let go of something they are holding on to. Treatments for spastic CP vary, depending on the severity of the condition.
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