Cerebral palsy

A disorder of posture and movement resulting from damage to a child’s developing brain before, during, or immediately after birth, or in early childhood. Cerebral palsy is nonprogressive and varies in degree from slight clumsiness of hand movement and gait to complete immobility. A child with cerebral palsy may have spastic paralysis (abnormal stiffness of muscles), athetosis (involuntary writhing movements), or ataxia (loss of coordination and balance). Other nervous system disorders, such as hearing defects or epileptic seizures, may be present. About 70 per cent of affected children have mental impairment, but the remainder are of normal or high intelligence. In most cases, damage occurs before or at birth, most commonly as a result of an inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain. More rarely, the cause is a maternal infection spreading to the baby in the uterus. In rare cases, cerebral palsy is due to kernicterus. Possible causes after birth include encephalitis, meningitis, head injury, or intracerebral haemorrhage. Cerebral palsy may not be recognized until well into the baby’s 1st year. Initially, the infant may have hypotonic (floppy) muscles, be difficult to feed, and show delay in sitting without support. Although there is no cure for cerebral palsy, much can be done to help affected children using specialized physiotherapy, speech therapy, and techniques and devices for nonverbal communication.