Cerebral palsy, abbreviated by doctors as CP, can impair a range of nervous system functions such as movement, learning, auditory skills, and sometimes vision.
CP has no definitive cure and unfortunately the sufferer has to live with this disorder and a bunch of disabilities and sometimes disabilities for the rest of his life. What we will deal with in the following is “Adult living with cerebral palsy.”
what you will read next :
Cause and etiology of cp
Nervous system damage during pregnancy and at birth up to the first two years of life can be associated with CP
The most common cause of CP is insufficient oxygen supply (hypoxia) to the brain and nerve cells of the fetus or baby at birth.
Premature infants are most likely to develop CP
In addition to fetal and neonatal hypoxia and maternal rubella during pregnancy, the following causes can lead to CP in the first two years of a child’s life:
- Severe bleeding inside the brain
- Severe brain infections such as meningitis and encephalitis
- Blows and traumas to the skull
- Severe neonatal jaundice
What are the types of CP?
- Spastic form:
Symptoms include:
- Spasticity in muscles
- Walking with scissors !!!!
- Abnormal walking, in which a person walks on his toes
- The joints are under construction
- Dis-kinetic form
- Ataxic form
In the above two forms, the symptoms are as follows:
- Balance disorder
- Motor disorders such as butter !!!!, athetosis,
- Dystonia, sudden one-sided or two-sided jumps in muscles, upper or lower limbs, hands and feet
- Hand tremors
- Hypotonic form
- Mixed form
Symptoms of CP
The following symptoms are commonly seen in all types of CPs:
- Growth disorders
- Urinary incontinence
- Dysphagia
- Hearing or vision problems
- Convulsions
- Speech disorder
Some people have normal IQs and some have low IQs.
We said that unfortunately CP has no cure and the affected person will be associated with CP from childhood to adulthood.
What will life be like for people with CP in adulthood?
The main goal of CP treatment is to be able to do their daily work as independently as possible and to reduce their symptoms with treatments.
These people should have a close relationship with their treatment team, this team from:
- Neurologists
- Rehabilitation specialists
- Speech therapists
- Occupational therapists
- Social workers
- Psychiatrists
- Physiotherapists
- ..
Care tips in CP
- A person with CP should:
Under the supervision of a physiotherapist and with the prescription of a neurologist or orthopedist, to rehabilitate and reduce muscle spasm and stiffness and improve his movements, use appropriate and standard exercises.
- A person with CP should have a healthy and adequate diet to avoid digestive problems, dehydration and a lack of minerals and vitamins.
- Sometimes orthopedic surgeons use surgery to modify and reduce joint contracture in people with certain types of CP.
- The patient should be monitored for the possibility of seizures and in case of seizures, visit a neurologist and if necessary, use medication to control seizures according to the doctor’s instructions.
- The use of wheelchairs, walkers and crutches in people with moderate to severe walking disorders is recommended at the discretion of the physician.
- Use glasses for vision problems and hearing aids for hearing problems.
It is said that if the health care and medical follow-up of these people are done well, the life expectancy of these people will be normal, a group of these children with normal IQ can be educated and have an education appropriate to their situation. Learn skills and be able to work and earn money in the workshops for these people and not be far from the community, but in most cases these people will always be behind their healthy peers.
Physical rehabilitation programs or physiotherapy in people with CP
Manual therapy (specific therapy) for specific muscles, with the aim of relaxing or activating them.
These activities are performed according to the person’s condition in sleeping, sitting and sometimes standing.
In addition, in people with hypotonic paralysis, subtle and proportionate electrical stimulation will be used to create contraction in the individual muscles.
Each person’s treatment plan is different.