Good day STEM Hiveans. So yesterday, I went going through my posts and I ran across a movie review I did some time back, Triumph. The review was so good that I went back to rewatch the film๐.
Anyways what caught my eye in both the movie and the review was the medical condition of the main character and the main actor.
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture.
Although in some cases, it may also affect vision, hearing and sensations.
The word Cerebral means it has to do with the brain while Palsy means body weakness or movement issues.
Cerebral Palsy is the most common cause of motor disabilities in childhood. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it affects 1 to 4 out of every 1000 children worldwide.
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In most cases, the specific cause of Cerebral Palsy is unknown. Although it is known that CP is vaguely caused by a problem with the brain/white matter of the infant that occurs before, during or after birth.
Some incidents that could lead to CP later on in a child are;
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The symptoms of Cerebral Palsy isn't really noticable immediately after 5he baby is born. It becomes noticable from 2 to 3 years of infancy.
The symptoms mostly and commonly revolve around one particular aspect;
The main symptoms of Cerebral Palsy are problems with movement, correlation and development.
Possible symptoms under this umbrella may include;
Patients with Cerebral Palsy can also have a range of other problems
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There are 4 main types of Cerebral Palsy and a doctor may refer to a patients type, particularly based on what the patients symptoms are;
This kind of CP is found when the Cerebral cortex is damaged. When a patient has this kind of Cerebral Palsy, the patient's muscles are stiff and tight, especially when their trying to move them quickly. Making it difficult to move and reduce the range of movement that's possible.
This is associated with a damage to the Basal Ganglia. In this type of CP, the muscles switch between stiffness and floppiness, causing random uncontrollable movements or spasms.
This is found when the Cerebellum is damaged. Here the patient would be found having problem's with balance and coordination. This would result in clumsy, shaky movements and sometimes tremors.
This is a combination of two or more of the previous types of Cerebral palsies. At that it means two or more parts of the brain would have been damaged and the symptoms would correspond to the types of Cerebral palsy identified.
Other terms that may be heard when a doctor is diagnosing a Cerebral Palsy patient is terms used to diagnose the parts of the body affected.
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For diagnosis, the options are rather limited. Until the child starts showing more definitive symptoms, any diagnosis made may be rather faulty.
When the symptoms are clear though, specialists would run the patient's through a series of tests and assessments to know how severe a case may be.
They would also use brain scans to look for signs of any brain damage or Cerebral Palsy. E.g MRI, CT, Cranial ultrasound.
The treatment of Cerebral Palsy is quite numerous and detailed. Like other special diagnosis, they have a long list of how to be cared for to produce the optimal life style.
First we start with the most basic treatment.
This involves exercises and massages to help maintain and improve movement.
This is also one of the most important treatment for Cerebral Palsy.
It helps encourage movement and stops muscle shortening.
An ataxic Cerebral palsy patient before and after physiotherapy
This therapy is for cases who have trouble talking and communicating.
A speech and language therapist can provide exercises to help practice speech or if after consideration decide to teach alternative means of communication. E.g Sign language or use of pictures.
Some medicines are prescribed to help people with their symptoms. Some medicines used are;
Surely all these medicines are relative to the doctors prescription.
Some cases may need surgery to help their movement difficulties and or other problems.
Surgery may be used for:
Although of course surgery is a big step, so one should know the risks about any procedure.
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One should note though that there is no cure for Cerebral Palsy. These treatments are just used to make the patient as active and self reliant as possible.
Unlike most Special Needs ailments that are widely rampant and well known. Cerebral Palsy is so unknown and yet everywhere.
Cerebral palsy occurs in one to four per 1,000 live births globally. But the prevalence is higher in Africa. Here, it is two to 10 per 1000 live births. In Nigeria, there is no sufficient data to show accurate prevalence, but some estimates say at least 500,000 citizens are affected. - Source
In Nigeria alone an estimate of 500,000 citizens. I know in my daily movements to and fro school, I see at least 10 Cerebral palsy diagnosed, begging on the streets and sidewalks and I didn't know anything. I also remember making fun of them when I was much younger. so embarrassing ๐
This is also another reasons why I decided to make this post despite medicine posts not being my forte.๐
For further reading;
https://www.healthline.com/health/cerebral-palsy#risk-factors
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cerebral-palsy/
