Cerebral Palsy is a disease that usually manifests during the early years of a child’s life, and is the umbrella for a range of disorders that can affect the control of movement in some way. The symptoms of this disease usually present themselves before the age of three, and the causes of cerebral palsy can vary. There are a number of symptoms that can present themselves during the early years of a child’s life, and could indicate the presence of cerebral palsy. In some cases, it can be difficult to diagnose cerebral palsy because some of the symptoms may be so subtle that they are barely noticeable.
The term cerebral palsy refers to any one of a number of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination but don’t worsen over time. Even though cerebral palsy affects muscle movement, it isn’t caused by problems in the muscles or nerves. It is caused by abnormalities in parts of the brain that control muscle movements. The majority of children with cerebral palsy are born with it, although it may not be detected until months or years later. The early signs of cerebral palsy usually appear before a child reaches 3 years of age. The most common are a lack of muscle coordination when performing voluntary movements (ataxia); stiff or tight muscles and exaggerated reflexes (spasticity); walking with one foot or leg dragging; walking on the toes, a crouched gait, or a “scissored” gait; and muscle tone that is either too stiff or too floppy. A small number of children have cerebral palsy as the result of brain damage in the first few months or years of life, brain infections such as bacterial meningitis or viral encephalitis, or head injury from a motor vehicle accident, a fall, or child abuse.
