Everything You Need To Know About Cerebral Palsy And How To Cope With It!

Cerebral palsy or cp, is not a single condition but rather a group of disorders which cause motor disability affecting body movements and muscle coordination caused by damage to one or more specific areas of the brain

Many variables contribute to the cause of cerebral palsy, the most commonly of which is brain injury before or during birth. It can also happen after birth due to brain damage in the very early years, perhaps from bacterial meningitis or a head injury.

Children with cerebral palsy may not be able to walk, talk, eat or play in the same ways as most other children and will, unfortunately, have it all their lives.

Although children with very mild cerebral palsy occasionally recover by the time they are school-aged, it is usually a lifelong disability.

In most cases, the movement and other problems associated with cerebral palsy affect what a child is able to learn and do to varying degrees throughout their life.

However, It is important to realize that cerebral palsy is not a disease or illness. It isn't contagious and it doesn't get worse.

Depending on which areas of the brain have been affected, one or more of the following may occur: muscle tightness or spasm; involuntary movement; disturbance in gait and mobility; abnormal sensation and perception; impairment of sight, hearing or speech and seizures.

In the United States today, more people have cerebral palsy than any other developmental disability. About two children out of every thousand born have some type of cerebral palsy. Studies have shown that at least 5000 infants and toddlers and 1,200 - 1,500 preschoolers are diagnosed with cerebral palsy each year. In all, approximately 500,000 people in the US have some degree of cerebral palsy.

The term cerebral palsy itself encompasses many different disorders of movement and posture. To describe these, pediatricians, neurologists, and therapists use several classification systems and many different labels.

Doctors frequently delay in making a diagnosis of cerebral palsy in young children. This is due to the plasticity of a child's central nervous system. The brains of very young children have a much greater capacity to repair themselves than do adult brains.

Also a child's nervous system organizes over time, therefore health care professionals need to assess the child's strengths and needs in all areas.

Generally, however, a child's motor symptoms stabilize by two to three years of age. After this age, tone is probably not going to change dramatically.

New insights into the nature of cerebral palsy are being researched and discovered providing more effective therapies to assist children with cp to learn how to optimize their manipulative capacities.

Haig Meyer is a veteran of the alternative medicine industry and has a wealth of knowledge and expertise that he likes to share with others of like mind. He has written extensively on health issues over the years and is well known for his humor and incisive reports. If you have a question, he usually has the answer. You can visit his website at: http://www.cerebral-palsey.info