Types Of Cerebral Palsy Explained!
Cerebral palsy is a group of several types of neurological disorders. The specialists have diagnosed more than four main cerebral palsy types, but they all agree on the basic types: ataxic cerebral palsy, cerebral palsy spastic, athetoid and mixed cerebral palsy. Concerning the other cerebral palsy types, specialists mention the existence of spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, severe athetoid cerebral palsy and hemiplegia and quadriplegia. Cerebral palsy types have different characteristics according to the brain area affected by brain injury, brain atrophy during birth injury or medical injury. One of the main cerebral palsy types – ataxic cerebral palsy – is characterized by the injury of cerebellum and shaky, unsteady movements due to the poor coordination and depth perception. Ataxic cerebral palsy is a rare type of cerebral palsy and it is developed by only 5-10 percents of the patients.
Spastic cerebral palsy is another main type of cerebral palsy and it usually refers to increased tone or tension in the muscles. The cause of this tension is the complication of a process - brain-to-nerve-to-muscle communication. The effective movement is blocked, as the muscles affected by spastic cerebral palsy become active at the same time, together. Unfortunately, spasticity in muscles can increase in time and cause more problems to the people that suffer from this neurological disorder. One of the cerebral palsy types is characterized by abnormal movements, excessive fatigue and anxiety. This is the case of spastic cerebral palsy that has different types of treatments for different degrees of severity of the existent symptoms. Athetoid cerebral palsy is one of the other cerebral palsy types and it refers to brain injury of the baby during pregnancy, delivery or shortly after delivery. This type of cerebral palsy is characterized by slow and involuntary movements of the body’s muscles - this is caused by a mixed muscle tone due to a damage of the midbrain, called basal ganglia. This type of cerebral palsy can also be named dyskenetic cerebral palsy. In some cases, the disorder affects the muscles of face or tongue, causing grimaces. In case of emotional stress, the slow writhing movements are increased, causing more troubles to the person that is affected by this type of cerebral palsy. Among the main cerebral palsy types, there is the mixed cerebral palsy, characterized by both athetoid cerebral palsy symptoms and spastic cerebral palsy symptoms. This is the usual combination, but there are combinations of other cerebral palsy types. The less common mixed cerebral palsy is a combination between athetoid and ataxic cerebral palsy. The signs in case of a mixed type of cerebral palsy usually appear in the period of nine months and three years old and the cerebral palsy diagnosis can be established by a health professional. All cerebral palsy types can be difficult to treat due to the different degree of brain damage, but the most difficult type of treatment concerns the mixed cerebral palsy, being given the fact that more than one area of brain is injured. A physician can make more tests if the child presents some contradictory signs of mixed cerebral palsy and then establish an effective cerebral palsy therapy. It is important to pay attention to all signs of developmental delays or problems in order to start the treatment earlier and to achieve better results, reducing the movement and perception problems of the patient. |
