Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common form of cerebral palsy, accounting for between seventy and eighty percent of all cerebral palsy cases. People with this condition have stiff muscles that remain in a state of prolonged contraction. Such muscle stiffness and contraction makes normal movement difficult, and can lead to permanent muscle and joint damage over time.
While the muscles of the arms and legs are most severely affected in spastic cerebral palsy, the extent to which they are involved may vary. One type of spastic cerebral palsy is spastic diplegia. In this form, muscles in both legs are affected, resulting in the legs turning in and crossing at the knees. When a person with spastic diplegia tries to walk, the legs are stiff and cross at the knees, causing the characteristic scissors gait. In another type of spastic cerebral palsy called spastic hemiplegia, the limbs on one half of the body are affected. This type of cerebral palsy may be detected when a doctor tests an infant for hand preference. Before the age of one year, babies do not usually show hand preference. However, in spastic hemiplegia, an infant favors the hand that is on the unaffected side of the body.
The movement defects in spastic cerebral palsy are managed by combining physical therapy and surgery. Muscles and joints are exercised to prevent them from falling into disuse. A combination of disuse and abnormal posture may cause some muscles to permanently shorten, thereby worsening a patient’s range of movement and flexibility. Often, a substance that relaxes muscles, such as botulinum toxin or Botox, may be injected into a particular group of muscles in preparation for physical therapy or surgery. The spinal cord and nerves may also be operated upon to reduce the transmission of nerve impulses to certain muscles and thereby relax them. Orthopedic devices can help maintain limbs in their correct positions and improve movement.
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Spastic Cerebral Palsy
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Cerebral Palsy is a crippling brain disorder that affects thousands of newborns children around the world each year. With no definite permanent cure known as of yet, the ones affected by the disorder tend to suffer for their entire life. There are several types of...
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Types of Cerebral Palsy
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Cerebral palsy can be classified into four types: spastic, athetoid, ataxic and mixed. Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common form, accounting for between 70 and 80 percent of all cerebral palsy cases. Limb muscles are stiff and remain permanently contracted. This form of cerebral...
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Cerebral Palsy Therapy
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Athetoid Cerebral Palsy Lawyer
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Athetoid cerebral palsy is one of three types of cerebral palsy, and affects between ten and twenty percent of patients. This form of cerebral palsy is caused by damage to parts of the brain called the cerebellum or basal ganglia. These parts of the brain...
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Athetoid Cerebral Palsy
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From the several thousand cases of Cerebral Palsy reported around the world each year, about 10% of them are cases of Athetoid Cerebral Palsy. This disorder is exactly the opposite of spastic Cerebral Palsy wherein the muscles are too rigid. In Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, the...
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Ataxic cerebral palsy accounts for five to ten percent of all cases of cerebral palsy. In this form of cerebral palsy, there is damage to a part of the brain called the cerebellum that helps maintain balance and coordination. When the cerebellum is damaged, it...
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Cause of Cerebral Palsy
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Cerebral Palsy is one of the most widespread brain-related disorders found in newborn or young children around the world. Cerebral Palsy is a permanent disorder that occurs when the brain undergoes damage either during pregnancy or soon after birth. As a result of this, the...
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