Spastic Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy affects more than 15 million people around the world and is continually rising. Spastic Cerebral Palsy is one of the three major classifications of cerebral palsy. This type has been considered, by far the most common type of overall cerebral palsy as it has been occurring in 90% of all cases according to the Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe.

Kids suffering with Spastic Cerebral Palsy have uncontrollable and exaggerated muscle tension that can result to reduced movement as well as stiffness. Children are diagnosed with this disease as early as the age of 3. One common indicator of Spastic Cerebral Palsy is when a child has difficulty coordinating his or her movements.

The communication sent out from the brain to different parts of the body is disorganized causing the muscle tension to be disrupted. Generally, the muscles work in pairs, so when a group of muscle contracts, the other group relaxes, this system allows the child or person to move freely in his or her desired direction.

However, for kids who are affected by the spastic cerebral palsy the muscles in their bodies are relatively active blocking effective and efficient movement.

There are three types of Spastic Cerebral Palsy to help determine what the child has:

Spastic diplegia or scissoring, this cerebral palsy affects the movement – where the legs crosses over the knees making it difficult for the child to walk.

Spastic hemiplegia when the arms or hand is more affected than the leg and that side of the body does not develop normally. That side of the body is usually stiff and the child will require leg braces to properly balance his or herself to walk.

Spastic quadriplegias this is the most severe of the three since children affected by spastic quadriplegia are more prone to suffer from mental retardation. The child will experience difficulty in walking and talking since his or her extremities, the legs, arms and body are affected with the muscle tension plus the occurrence of seizures.

There are still no single cause for this children developing cerebral palsy but the studies show that this could start from infancy to childhood. Some of the causes include problems in development during pregnancy like being exposed to radiation or infection during, lack of oxygen supply in the body before birth, reduced oxygen supply to the brain, trauma during labor and delivery, and other complications during the prenatal period.

Premature babies also have a huge risk in having this condition. It is also common in twins or multiple births since twins share the same source of oxygen in the womb. Environmental factors also contribute to the cause of Spastic Cerebral Palsy.

Spastic Cerebral Palsy

could affect babies or toddlers when exposed to lead, meningitis, infection and malnutrition. It is also important to handle newborns. The head as well as the neck should be protected from being shaken or bruised. Parents should also make sure they do not fall and hit their heads since this would cause damage to their brain.

One of the most common unwanted symptom to this disease associated with pain. The pain is usually due to the different procedures that the child should endure. Pain is usually due to tight and/or shortened muscle, stiff joints, abnormal posture, and many more. The children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy are mostly suffering from chronic sleep disorder, associated with both physical and environmental factors. Spastic Cerebral Palsy can be easily managed by the person affected compared to other kinds of cerebral palsy. To this day there is still no real cure to this disease.