Cerebral Palsy

Overview

Cerebral palsy (often abbreviated as CP) is a chronic disorder caused by injury to the areas of the brain that control movement and posture during the period of brain development. The brain injury usually occurs during pregnancy, or occasionally during or shortly after birth.

'Cerebral' refers to the brain and 'palsy' means problems using the muscles. The difficulty in CP is not found in the muscles or nerves to the muscles but originates in the brain. Abnormal development or damage to the areas of the brain that control movement leads to a disruption of the brain's ability to coordinate movement and posture. CP symptoms range from very mild to quite severe. Symptoms of CP differ from person to person. They may include difficulty maintaining balance, walking, using one's hands, and involuntary movements.

Although the symptoms of CP appear in early childhood and change over time, CP is by definition not progressive. The injury in the brain does not change but the pattern of development does change. At an age when a child would usually demonstrate new movement abilities, the presence of CP leads to delays in the achievement of developmental milestones in movement such as rolling over, crawling, walking, reaching and/or grasping (gross motor and/or fine motor skills).

Cerebral Palsy has an incidence rate of 2 to 2.5 per 1000 live births and increases to 40 to 100 per 1000 live births in infants born prematurely or very low birth weight.  Many problems may be associated with cerebral palsy, including learning difficulties, language problems, epilepsy, and vision and/or hearing impairments.

NEW!

February 2007.  Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, Supplement on 'Definition and Classification of Cerebral Palsy':  This issue of the journal is based on the April 2006 Report on the Definition and Classification of Cerebral Palsy.  

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