Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that usually affect the motor function of the person who has it. Cerebral palsy is not a progressive disease, meaning that the symptoms do not get either worse or better with time. Cerebral palsy usually affects either one or both of the arms and legs, though it seems to be a disorder related to brain injuries.
The exact cause of cerebral palsy is often difficult to pin down but has been directly linked to some injury to the brain or nerves before, during, or shortly after birth. Cerebral palsy can also occur from injuries or diseases sustained in early childhood, usually in the first two years of life.
Cerebral palsy can range in severity from just a slight arm or leg problem to very serious cerebral palsy, which can lead to complete immobility and a paralysis of several organs and limbs. Speech, eating, and learning impediments can also accompany cerebral palsy. The symptoms stay the same throughout the cerebral palsy sufferer’s life.
Cerebral palsy is a very common disorder that seems to be becoming more prevalent. Since cerebral palsy is often not diagnosed until a child is two years old, if the disorder is a mild case especially, then numbers are often not reported in a timely fashion. Over 500,000 people in the US have the disorder.
Three main kinds of cerebral palsy include spastic CP, athetoid CP, and ataxic CP. Some cases of cerebral palsy have one or more of these three types. Spastic CP’s symptoms include a muscle stiffness that may make reaching or walking difficult. Athetoid CP results in some off-balance walking and also muscle tics. Ataxic CP symptoms include balance disorder and some difficulty in perceiving depth around them.
Cerebral palsy is a kind of movement disorder and as such is not curable. Treatment for cerebral palsy includes many types of therapies that can help the symptoms of cerebral palsy, however. Several kinds of surgeries have also proved effective in helping the cerebral palsy sufferer walk and reach again. Other types of external equipment such as computers, wheelchairs, drugs, alternative healing methods, massage, and others are becoming widely accepted worldwide due to their alleviation of cerebral palsy symptoms. Advancements in new technologies and medical treatments make the future look better for many who suffer from cerebral palsy.
Visit http://www.cerebralpalsysource.com/, the online destination for information about cerebral palsy. This website has hundreds of pages of in-depth articles on the different types of CP, treatments for CP, therapies and advancements in treatment, and information on alternative therapies as well.