What Is Cerebral Palsy

What Exactly Is Cerebral Palsy?
By Jennifer Petry

Understanding cerebral palsy is the first step towards preventing it. Cerebral palsy is a condition when muscle movements and posture is affected (palsy) due to brain damage (cerebral). Unlike chicken pox or measles, cerebral palsy is not a disease but it is a condition. It is not communicable and although there is no cure it is not progressive, as brain damage does not increase over time.

Around a hundred and fifty years ago an English surgeon named William Little first documented and collected information on a peculiar condition that affected children in their early years leading to stiff, spastic muscles in their legs and to a lesser degree their arms. Little found that this condition did not worsen over the years nor did it improve. This condition, known for many years as Little’s disease, is today known as spastic diplegia, one of several types of cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a very diverse and complex condition with different people being affected differently. Each specific case is, therefore, as individualistic as the individual patients themselves. It is characterized by an inability to fully control motor function, particularly muscle control and coordination.