Cerebral Palsy Definition, Reason, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention
Understanding
Cerebral palsy ( cerebral palsy ) is brain damage in infants and children that causes motor movement disorders, speech disorders, visual disturbances, and learning disorders.
There are three types of cerebral palsy, namely:
1) Spastic type of cerebral palsy, characterized by rigid body movements due to continuous contracting muscles.
2) Athetoid type of cerebral palsy, characterized by the emergence of unconscious or unwanted movements that cannot be controlled.
3) Ataxic type of cerebral palsy, characterized by balance disorders.
Symptom
Symptoms of cerebral palsy include movement disorders and developmental delays, such as:
- Delay in motor development, for example not being able to sit up to 8 months of age, not being able to walk at 18 months of age
- The body is tense and stiff
- Often makes jerking movements that cannot be controlled
- Hand tremors
- Walk on tiptoe
- In addition, other complaints that can occur are swallowing disorders, bowel obstruction, recurrent seizures, hearing loss, visual disturbances, bed wetting, and so on.
Reason
There are several causes of cerebral palsy. This condition can be caused by an infection during pregnancy, genetic abnormalities, or interference with the delivery process.
Premature babies born weighing under 1500 grams have a higher risk of experiencing cerebral palsy. In addition, brain disorders when toddlers, for example experiencing inflammation of the lining of the brain (meningitis), lack of oxygen for a long time, or experiencing shaken baby syndrome, can also cause brain paralysis.
Diagnosis
Because the symptoms of cerebral palsy are similar to many other diseases in children, doctors generally need to observe children for several weeks to several months to ensure that they have cerebral palsy. Often the suspicion that a child has cerebral palsy is only considered when the child is four months old and above after seeing the child’s development that is not in accordance with his age.
To ensure that there is cerebral palsy, generally, doctors will ask the child to undergo several tests, such as:
- CT scans
- MRIs
- electroencephalography (EEG)
Treatment
Until now there is no treatment method that can cure cerebral palsy completely. The goal of therapy for cerebral palsy is to maximize the child’s growth and development.
Children with cerebral palsy need to undergo medical rehabilitation to train their body movements, their ability to speak, their ability to hear, and their social development. It is also important to maintain the health of children’s bones by giving them foods that contain calcium, vitamin D, and phosphate.
Prevention
Prevention of cerebral palsy begins with keeping the fetus in the womb in a healthy condition so that its brain development at birth takes place completely and perfectly. Some things that pregnant women can do are to carry out routine pregnancy checks to prevent serious health problems.
During pregnancy, it is also necessary to ensure that you eat nutritious foods that are high in protein, enough calories, high in fiber, and have enough folic acid as well as enough other vitamins and minerals. Also, develop a stress-free healthy lifestyle and avoid cigarette smoke.