WHAT IS CEREBRAL PALSY?

Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to one of the parts of the brain which controls and organises a person's movement and posture. This can happen before, during or after birth.

No two people will be affected in the same way by cerebral palsy. For some people the effects will be very mild whilst for others they can be severe or profound, with many variations in between.

The most common and obvious effect is a problem in controlling movement and posture. Depending on which parts of the brain are affected, a person might also have sight or speech problems, epilepsy and perhaps learning disabilities (mental handicap).

How is it caused?

Almost 50% of children with CP are born early. Small pre-term (early) babies have vulnerable brains which may haemorrhage (bleed heavily).We do not know the reason for this.

Other causes include:

• the baby's brain not forming properly, often for no apparent reason
• lack of oxygen before, during or after birth or damage during delivery
• a genetic disorder which can be inherited
• an infection in the mother during the first few weeks of a baby's development in the womb
• an infection (e.g. meningitis) caught after birth
• an accident such as a car crash causing head injury. This is known as acquired CP.

The different types of Cerebral Palsy

There are three different systems within the brain involved in controlling movement. Impairment can happen in one or more of these areas. The type of cerebral palsy which results depends on which area of the brain is most affected. There are four types of cerebral palsy. Spastic Cerebral Palsy (spasticity) People with this type of cerebral palsy experience tightness or stiffness (spasticity) and weakness in some muscles. This causes degrees of difficulty in moving the body, which may be mild or severe.

Athetoid Cerebral Palsy (athetosis)

People with this kind of cerebral palsy have muscles which change quickly from floppy to tense. Their limbs move a lot because their movements are not well controlled.

Ataxic Cerebral Palsy (ataxia)

People with ataxic CP experience problems with balance and with co-ordinating their movements. This is due to difficulty in controlling movement of the head, legs and arms.

Dystonic Cerebral Palsy (dystonia)

Someone with dystonia experiences rapid changes in their body tension or tone. This means that when someone intends to change their position then their muscles become either very tense or very floppy.

It is not unusual for people with cerebral palsy to have a mixture of these types if more than one of their movement systems is impaired. There are three commonly used descriptions of ways cerebral palsy affects different parts of the body :-

• Hemiplegic CP means that either the right or left side of the body is affected.
• Diplegic CP affects mainly the legs (although the arms are affected to a lesser extent).
• Quadriplegic CP affects both arms and legs, with the arms more severely affected than in diplegia.

Can Cerebral Palsy be prevented or cured?

We don't know enough yet about how and why cerebral palsy happens to cure or prevent it. However, because of improvements in medical care before and during birth, fewer babies have been born with certain types of cerebral palsy.

Although brain damage is not reversible, there are many treatments and therapies which can help people with cerebral palsy.

Equipment such as splints to help with walking, special buggies and wheelchairs, seating and standing frames, computers, and much more, can be provided to build on people's abilities.