Cerebral Palsy is a muscular condition which affects children. It is the inability of the brain to generate and send signals to the muscular parts of the body, so the brain does not allow the body to function and move properly. Infants and children suffering from Cerebral Palsy develop this abnormality after, before or during birth. Cerebral Palsy affects 1 of every 500 children but in majority of cases the disease strikes premature children. It is often hard
to reveal CP before birth and it takes time before the infant is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy sufferers experience brain damage, which occurs because of several reasons.
Some of the reasons are:
* Injuries which affect infants prior to birth can result in Cerebral Palsy
* Inadequate supply of oxygen to the infant’s brain before, during, or subsequent to birth
* Parents suffering from some type of mental or physical illness could also affect the child
Children usually suffer from the following kinds of Cerebral Palsy:
SPASTIC CEREBRAL PALSY:
In Spastic Cerebral Palsy, children have tight muscular groups because of some damages in the brain. The muscular tightness prevents such children from using their muscles properly and disables them from moving correctly.
ATHETOID CEREBRAL PALSY:
In Athetoid Cerebral Palsy children extend muscular irregularity, and this situation leads to inability of the muscle to work properly as well as improper movement.
ATAXIC CEREBRAL PALSY:
Ataxic Cerebral Palsy is when children have muscular contractions and their muscles are too weak to hold up their bodies accurately during movement.
The symptoms of this sickness are usually observable in the early stages of children’s lives.
It is easy to identify Cerebral Palsy sufferers because of their lack of movement, muscular abnormalities and inability to understand things. The symptoms do alter in the course of time, and as the child becomes older, the abnormalities become more evident. Cerebral Palsy victims cannot be totally cured. The brain injury, which has a direct influence on the child’s body, lasts for a lifetime.
Medical science is making progress, so a lot has been done to help Cerebral Palsy patients. However, this disease is not completely treatable. The survival rate of children suffering from CP is high and majority of children live a relatively normal life, in spite of the disease. Only those CP patients that suffer from severe mental disease and several types of CP at the same time show a low survival rate.
