The Jayden Fund

Cerebral Palsy is caused by damage to the part of the brain which controls our motor functions and muscle tone. Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy differ from person to person and can depend on which part of the brain has been affected and how badly it has been affected. The main symptoms of Cerebral Palsy involve the tone of the muscles. Muscle tone in children with Cerebral Palsy may be too tight, too loose or floppy or a combination of both. Symptoms can include muscle spasms or full seizures of the body, involuntary movement of limbs and muscles, inability to walk or move the body independently, difficulty with fine motor tasks, difficulty maintaining balance or walking and impairment of basic communication abilities such as sight, speech and hearing.

In addition to disorders of movement, children with Cerebral Palsy often have other medical disorders caused by more widespread damage to the brain. These include such things as learning impairment, visual impairment and squints, hearing and speech problems, behaviour problems and epilepsy. Early signs of Cerebral Palsy usually appear before three years of age. Infants with Cerebral Palsy are frequently slow to reach developmental milestones such as learning to roll over, sit, crawl, smile or walk.

Cerebral Palsy can range from mild to severe. There are three main types of Cerebral Palsy:

• Spastic Cerebral Palsy:
  Children with spastic Cerebral Palsy have stiff and jerky movements caused by muscles which are too tight. This causes particular difficulties when moving from one position to another or letting go of something held in their hand. More than half of those children with Cerebral Palsy have this form making it the most common type.
  
  
• Ataxic Cerebral Palsy:
  Poor coordination of movements and low muscle tone are the main characteristics of Ataxic Cerebral Palsy. Children with this particular form of the condition look very unsteady and shaky. They experience a lot of shakiness the majority of the time, like a tremor. This can become more pronounced when they are trying to perform fine movements such as turning the page of a book or writing. Poor balance and unsteadiness when walking are also characterised by this form of Cerebral Palsy.
  
  
• Athetoid or Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy:
  This is a mixture of muscle tone where the muscles are sometimes too tight and sometimes too loose. Children with athetoid Cerebral Palsy tend to make involuntary movements as their muscles change from floppy/loose to tight in a way that is difficult for them to control. They may have trouble holding themselves in an upright, steady position for sitting or walking, and often show lots of involuntary movements of their face, arms and upper body that they don't mean to make.
  
  
• Mixed Cerebral Palsy:
  This occurs when the muscle tone is too low in some muscles and too high in other muscles.

The areas of the body that are affected by Cerebral Palsy depend on the damage to the brain and the severity of that damage. These are classified as:

• Quadriplegia: When Cerebral Palsy affects all four of limbs. This will mean that children with quadriplegia have trouble moving all the parts of their bodies, their face and trunk as well as their arms and legs, and may need a wheelchair to get around. Because of the problems controlling the muscles in their face and upper body, they also have trouble talking and eating
  
  
• Hemiplegia: Hemiplegia means that the Cerebral Palsy affects only one side of the child's body. For example the right arm and leg or the left arm and leg are affected. The other side of the child's body works isn't affected.
  
  
• Diplegia: With Diplegia only the two lower limbs are affected and the arms are either slightly affected or not at all. Those with diplegia often have good upper body control and are ably to hold themselves upright with good use of their arms and hands.

There are many causes of Cerebral Palsy most of which occur before birth or during pregnancy. However Cerebral Palsy can be caused due to damage to the baby's brain during childbirth. This is usually as a result of a lack of oxygen supply to the baby, trauma to the head during labour and delivery or poor flow of blood reaching the fetal or newborn brain. Poor pre-natal care can also be a factor.

Please follow the link for information on Cerebral Palsy, help and advice.

http://bondpearcepersonalinjury.co.uk/Cerebral-Palsy

Other helpful links:

http://37minutes.com/cerebral-palsy/

http://www.acerebral-palsy.org/

Thank you to Bond Pearce LLP for being so helpful and providing information for the website (particularly Emma Smith and Kerry Johnson).

Bond Pearce LLP are solicitors who specialise in clinical negligence in particular birth injury and Cerebral Palsy.  Their enquiry team consists of ex nurses, midwives and police officers and Louise Hunt, Head of Clinical Negligence, specialises almost exclusively in birth injury work in particular Cerebral Palsy.

http://www.bondpearcepersonalinjury.co.uk