INTRODUCTION
Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that mainly affects body movements, balance and posture. In simple words Cerebral palsy is also known as BRAIN PARALYSIS. It mainly affects the early childhood i.e. during infancy . In this disease , there is delay in the developmental milestones such as rolling , crawling, sitting and walking.
Cerebral palsy is mainly caused because of damage in one or more parts of the brain that mainly controls the movements of the muscles and its tone which leads to the in coordination of the movements. Patient finds difficulty in normal activities like balance, walking, speaking and swallowing.
STAGES OF CEREBRAL PALSY
Cerebral palsy has many types.The main types of Cerebral palsy..
1) Spastic Cerebral palsy
2) Dys kinetic cerebral palsy
3) mixed cerebral palsy.
Spastic cerebral palsy–
In spastic cerebral palsy there is increased in the muscle tone. Classification of this type mainly depends on the body part affected. For example if both the legs are affected it is known as DIPLEGIA. In some cases there is involvement of one side of body then it is called as HEMIPLEGIA. When whole body involvement is there it is known as QUADRIPLEGIA.
Dyskinetic cerebral palsy–
It mainly affects coordination of movements. It is further divided into
a) Athetoid cerebral palsy—– In this the person has uncontrolled movements and these movements can affect any part of the body including face , mouth, or tongue.
b) Ataxic Cerebral palsy— It mainly affects balance and coordination of the patient. In this deep perception is mainly affected. Gait of the person is improper. Patient generally finds difficulty in standing.
Mixed Cerebral palsy–
The other type is mixed type which mainly involves combination of spastic and athetoid cerebral palsy.
RISK FACTORS OF CEREBRAL PALSY–
Cerebral palsy mainly involves the brain and nervous system functions. Most of these problem occurs during first 2 years of life or sometimes while the baby’s brain is still developing. There is involvement of many risk factors that can cause cerebral palsy
1) Premature infants have the highest risk of developing cerebral palsy because of under development of many organs of the body.
2) Infection of brain like Encephalitis ( inflammation , irritation or swelling of the brain) , meningitis ( bacterial infection of the membranes covering meninges and spinal cord) or herpes simplex infection.
3) Infection to the mother during pregnancy due to rubella virus.
4) Head injury or bleeding in the brain.
5) RH factor in compatibility– Difference in the mother and fetus blood causes brain damage in fetus . Most of the times it is detects early and treated in women.
6) Hypoxia lack of oxygen reaching the brain before or after the birth.
7) Severe jaundice.
8) Complications during labor or delivery.