Tag Archives: Cerebral Palsy

Health

What Causes Babies to Born with Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy is mainly caused by brain malfunction or brain dysfunction or brain abnormalities which occur before or during or immediately after birth whiles the infants brain is under development.

So let’s look forward how a brain injury hampers or affects the child’s motor functioning and intellectual abilities which is highly dependent on the nature of brain injury, where the damage occurs and many more.

Now a question arises in our mind then;

What is brain injury, birth injury and brain malfunction?

The primary and main cause cerebral palsy is a brain injury or brain malformation that occurs during the development of the brain that is before, during or after the birth. Due to brain damage during brain development, as a result child’s muscle control, muscle co-ordination, muscle tone and reflex posture is affected and hampered. It also hampers child’s motor skills, gross motor skills and oral motor functioning.

Cerebral Palsy is unique to the individual. So the reasons behind the causes the cerebral palsy is:

Prenatal disturbance of brain cell migration: Several factors in genetic and environmental factors prevent the brain cells migration to appropriate location for brain development.

Prenatal poor myelination of developing the nerve cell fibres: Poor myelin impedes the brain function that forms a protective covering over the nerve fibre that aids in transmission.

Perinatal Brain cell death: Events in the birthing processes that ruptures the blood vessels or starve oxygen to the brain.

Inappropriate connections between brain cells:  Trauma, asphyxia or any other infections that damage connections developed in the brain.

Primary terminology causes:

Brain Development: It shortly occurs after the occurrence of conception, a rapid cell division or cell proliferation takes place from a small group of cells. The tissue strip rolls into the neutral tube, where one end develops in the brain and the other in the spinal cord. The cells form cluster and group and reaches different regions of the brain.  The brain is considered to be fully developed three to five years after birth.

Brain Defects: Irregularities in brain structure typically cause impairment.  Defects occur due to several injuries, malformation or any kind of damage. Degree of impairment is very often linked to the severity of damage. Sometimes compensation may occur to bypass the damage areas by the brain.  So for this cause early and initial treatment is very necessary.

Brain malformations: It is mainly caused due to abnormal development of the brain. Defects can occur at any time during foetal development specially the first twenty weeks which is mostly vulnerable.  Any kind of malformation that occurs during the neural tube can have very serious and permanent consequences. Brain malformation results in several underdeveloped areas, abnormal growth or improper brain division into hemispheres and lobes.

Brain Lesions: Those are defects that occur generally from an injury or disease. It causes several problems during foetal development can include bleeding in brain, infections, asphyxia and many others.  Lesions typically result from an accident or event that causes brain tissue damage and death.

Through MRI’s and CT scan report the initial and primary treatment should be done. Together this will help the doctors to treat the brain damage and diagnose the cerebral palsy. Treatment therapy and care plans are then made to help a child reach the future potential and safe treatment.

Health

Cerebral palsy, Its Diagnosis and Proper Treatment

Brain is the main work station of the whole body. It is a vital system in the whole body that functions as a coordinating centre of various sensations and the activities of nerves. It’s because of the brain we are able to walk, talk, see, smell and feel everything. If the brain fails to perform its activities then the entire functional system in our body starts to behave in an abnormal way. Sadly and unfortunately it’s been seen that some human beings are born with poor brain development which in science is named as Cerebral Palsy (CP). Cerebral Palsy is expounded as a group of lifelong disorders of the body movement and stance that limits all the normal activities in a human being which occurs during the budding brain or new born brain.

Diagnosis based on Symptoms and how such Patients should be Cared:

It is very disheartening to find out that there is no such exact diagnosis or tests to Cerebral Palsy. Diagnosing Cerebral Palsy is pretty time consuming. Sometimes an infant may be soon diagnosed with this disease right after birth but in maximum cases the diagnosis process takes place almost for two years after birth as per symptoms.

Symptoms include:

  1. Language and speech disorder is a common symptom amongst cerebral palsy patients.
  2. People with CP have weak skeletons. They look different, thin and pale than normal human being.
  3. Disorder in sleeping habits and pain in muscles is another common symptom of CP patients.
  4. Difficulty in eating, chewing and swallowing food due to lack of sensitivity inside the oral organs.

They also lack proper hearing, sensation, vision problem.

Proper Treatment and Cure:

It is mournful to say that there exist no proper treatment to CP but surely this is somewhat preventable through various supportive medical processes. CP can partly be prevented through immunization of the child’s mother and also by staying cautious to further head injuries. CP can never be fully cured, however few supportive improved medical experiments, medicines and surgery may result as a help to individuals with CP.

  • There are few therapies such as body therapy that includes various physical exercises, therapy in proper talking habits or the way of using and applying the mouth organs for speaking to improve he communication skill of the child, seemed to help CP people. Few medications like baclofen, diazepam and botulinum toxin helps to release the stiffness in muscles.
  • Surgeries are also performed sometimes to prevent muscle contractions. Surgery includes stretching muscles and cutting down highly active nerves. In some other surgery the nerves of spinal cords are served to decrease the spasticity in legs.

 

  • Few recent mechanical invention of tools are also used to cure the victims of CP. Specially designed braces for bones that helps stretching of the muscle holding bones in definite positions that is equipped to a computer with some special internal devices and a speech machine that aids the CP individual to communicate which certainly acts helpful in a broader way.

 

  • Some other professional therapy can also assist a child to develop and perform normal activities in day to day life.

 

  • Unique educational programmes that are specially framed to help individuals with disabilities in normal learning and for those who are mentally retarded. Counselling is also done in some cases to accustom the CP child with the normal habitats of the natural surroundings and also provide mental support to the family that is dealing with such condition.

 

Though the rate of victims of Cerebral Palsy is mostly found amongst the infants, it must be dealt with special care and guide regardless of age. It’s on the basis of one’s immense patience and caring responsibility towards a CP individual that can help them lead a somewhat normal and happy life that seems worth living.