Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy encompasses a group of conditions that are caused by problems in brain development. Disturbances in the brain usually occur during fetal or infant brain development and effects movement and motor control in children (Lisovska, 2016). The cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for directing muscle movement, is damaged and cerebral palsy thus develops. Cerebral palsy can be classified into four types which are made distinct because of its location and abnormality patterns. Spastic cerebral palsy, the most common type, affects different parts of the body but is characterized as an increase in muscle tone and stiff and tensile muscle. Spastic cerebral palsy can be further distinguished into spastic hemiplegia
Spastic diplegia or diparesis affects the legs bilaterally. Spastic quadriplegia or quadriparesis is the most severe and affects all four limbs along with the face and torso. The second type of cerebral palsy is dyskinetic cerebral palsy. Dyskinetic cerebral palsy is characterized by slow, uncontrollable, tremor-like jerky movements of the hands, feet, arms, or legs. The next type is ataxic cerebral palsy which affects balance and depth perception. Ataxic cerebral palsy is associated with poor coordination and unsteady gait. The last type of cerebral palsy is mixed type. A mixed type version of cerebral palsy is classified when the symptoms are don’t comply with the other three types. An example of mixed cerebral palsy is a child with tight muscles and relaxed
Cerebral palsy can be congenital, acquired, or caused by damage to white matter of the brain, intracranial hemorrhage, asphyxia, or hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. Cerebral palsy may develop congenitally because of genetics, brain malformations, maternal infections, or fetal injuries. Maternal infections like toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, and herpes, can affect the womb and placenta and inflammation can disrupt brain development of the