Athetoid Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

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 help maintain coordinated and smooth movements and overall body posture. People with athetoid cerebral palsy demonstrate uncontrollable, involuntary, slow, writhing movements of the limbs, and sometimes of the face or tongue. These movements tend to become worse during periods of stress, and disappear during sleep.

Patients may be unable to walk or stand because of poor muscle tone, and may also have difficulty grasping and holding on to objects. Their inability to coordinate movements may also make them unable to feed themselves and perform other activities of daily living. When the face and tongue are involved, patients with athetoid cerebral palsy may grimace, drool or thrust their tongues out. Tongue involvement may make them unable to swallow properly or to speak normally, a condition called dysatrhria.

Patients with athetoid cerebral palsy can be prescribed a group of drugs called anticholinergics to reduce abnormal movements. Such drugs block the action of acetylcholine, a compound in the body that acts on nerve cells to trigger muscle contraction. Some commonly prescribed anticholinergic drugs are trihexyphenidyl, benztropine and procyclidine. Speech therapy plays an important role in managing athetoid cerebral palsy, and can help normalize swallowing movements and reduce slurred speech. Nowadays, special computers and voice synthesizers are available to make speech clearer.

Athetoid cerebral palsy does not improve or become worse with age, but it is distressing for the large number of people with normal intelligence who have this condition. However, normal mental ability often motivates patients to work harder to reduce movement and speech deficits through therapy and to lead productive lives.

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Athetoid Cerebral Palsy

It has been estimated that about 10 percent of children with cerebral palsy have athetoid cerebral palsy. This type of cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the cerebellum or basal ganglia. It is these areas of the brain that are responsible for processing the signals that enable smooth, coordinated movements as well as for maintaining body posture.

Damage to the cerebellum or basal ganglia may cause a child to develop involuntary, purposeless movements. Such movements are very noticeable in the face, arms, and trunk. These unintentional movements interfere with overall efficiency by impacting speaking, feeding, reaching, grasping, and other skills requiring coordinated movements. Actions like involuntary grimacing and tongue thrusting, generally lead to problems with swallowing, drooling and slurred speech.

It has been observed that these movements often increase during periods of emotional stress and totally disappear during sleep. Children with athetoid cerebral palsy often have low muscle tone and experience a lot of difficulty maintaining posture for sitting and walking. People suffering from athetoid cerebral palsy have so many involuntary writhing movements that they are constantly in motion. They also have difficulties with speech as lack of muscle control makes articulation of words difficult.

Athetoid cerebral palsy results from damage caused to the basal ganglia in the midbrain.

Athetoid cerebral palsy affects about 10% of children who are diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy. Despite all the advances made by science, cerebral palsy is not a curable condition. However, hospitals provide coordinated, comprehensive multidisciplinary medical assistance. This is because children diagnosed with cerebral palsy need special health care on a regular basis to prevent or treat complications.

Preventive treatment will go a long way in maximizing their independence. Specialized physiotherapy can help train patients to perform simple tasks by themselves. Treatment procedures of any kind for cerebral palsy are aimed at lessening discomforts and improving the quality of life of the patient.

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