Occupational Therapy in Cerebral Palsy

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Understanding Cerebral Palsy

• The word cerebral means relating to the brain,
  while palsy means weakness or problems relating
  to muscle and its movement.
• Cerebral palsy (CP) are a group of conditions
  that are brought on by faulty brain development,
  often before to birth.
• It is a condition that impairs posture, muscular
  tone, and/or movement.
• Therefore, cerebral palsy affects the part of the
  brain that controls the ability to move muscles.

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Types of Cerebral Palsy

• Spastic Cerebral Palsy This is the most common
  type, affecting almost 80 of the patients. It
  affects the muscles, making them stiff (spastic),
  causing exaggerated reflexes and muscle spasms.
  It often entails walking abnormalities and may
  sometimes lead to paralysis.
• Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy This type causes
  problems in controlling body movements. The
  muscles either become too tight or too loose.
  Movements of the arms and legs become
  involuntary, jerky, or even slow and writhing.
  This causes difficulty in movements such as
  sitting, crawling, or walking. In some cases, it
  may also affect the face and the tongue, making
  it difficult to frown, eat, or talk.
• Ataxic Cerebral Palsy This is the least common
  type. This form of cerebral palsy affects the
  balance and coordination of the person. It
  affects movements such as walking and fine motor
  skills such as grasping objects, writing, etc.
• Hypotonic Cerebral Palsy This type greatly
  reduces the muscles tone, making them overly
  relaxed and floppy. The weakened muscles make it
  difficult to sit up straight. Children affected
  by this type may have trouble breathing,
  speaking, have poor reflexes or walking
  abnormalities.

Mixed Cerebral Palsy Some people may experience
symptoms of more than one type of cerebral palsy.
In most cases, it is a combination of spastic and
dyskinetic cerebral palsy.
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Symptoms of cerebral palsy

• Muscle movement disorders such as stiff muscles
  (spasticity), exaggerated reflexes, tremors, or
  involuntary jerking movements.
• Lack of muscle coordination and balance (ataxia).
• Variations in muscle tone, where muscles become
  too stiff or too floppy.
• Difficulty in walking.
• Difficulty in the development of fine motor
  skills such as sitting up, crawling, holding onto
  and picking up objects.
• Delay in speech development. 
• Difficulty in eating, excessive drooling, and
  problems with swallowing.
• Delayed growth. 
• Intellectual disabilities. 
• Neurological problems such as seizures
  (epilepsy), abnormal touch, or pain sensations,
  etc.
• Bladder and bowel problems.
• Mental health issues such as behavioral problems
  and mental disorders.

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Causes of Cerebral Palsy

• Cerebral palsy usually occurs before birth and in
  some cases, at birth, or early infancy. It is
  caused due to abnormal brain development, or
  damage caused to the developing brain
• Maternal infections that can occur in the womb,
  directly affecting the fetus.
• Gene mutations that cause problems during brain
  development and lead to genetic disorders.
• Head injuries due to accidents, falling, or child
  abuse.
• Bleeding in the brain (intracranial hemorrhage).
• Brain infections leading to inflammation in or
  around the brain.
• Lack of oxygen reaching the brain during labor
  and delivery.
• Severe jaundice in infants.

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Treatments for cerebral Palsy

• Although cerebral palsy cannot be cured, a
  combination of treatments can greatly help the
  child in achieving a long and healthy life.
• Medications, assistive aids, therapy, and surgery
  can greatly help in managing symptoms, relieving
  pain, and making the child independent in
  performing daily chores and activities, thereby
  improving the quality of life.
• Therapies such as Stem Cell Therapy, Physical
  Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy,
  etc. can be included in the treatment program.
• Research increasingly suggests that Occupational
  Therapy is significantly beneficial for children
  with cerebral palsy in a number of ways.

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Occupational Therapy and Cerebral Palsy

• Occupational Therapy and Cerebral Palsy involves
  developing ones ability to perform daily
  functions and activities. 
• CP occupational therapy aims at improving ones
  strength, dexterity, and coordination when
  performing day-to-day activities. It also helps
  in improving cognitive abilities such as
  decision-making, problem-solving, reasoning,
  perception, memory, etc.
• In this way, simple day-to-day tasks such as
  eating, bathing, brushing teeth can be performed
  with relative ease.

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Benefits of occupational Therapy

• Occupational therapy for CP can help with issues
  in various ways
• Performing everyday tasks independently
• Adapting better to abilities
• Developing thinking and learning skills
• Coping and responding to the demands and
  challenges of everyday life
• Coping with emotions and adapting

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Techniques and exercises are used in occupational
therapy with cerebral palsy

• Improving fine motor control These exercises
  improve hand dexterity. Simple exercises such as
  grasping and sorting toys, sorting coins, and
  making jewelry.
• Upper body strength and stability
  activities These activities focus on
  strengthening and stabilizing the trunk and upper
  body. Simple activities that increase strength
  and improve balance such as crawling.
• Bilateral coordination This focuses on improving
  control of both sides of the body at the same
  time. Activities and movements such as pulling
  apart constructive toys, catching a ball with two
  hands, riding a bike, etc. 
• Improving visual motor skills These activities
  help in improving hand-eye coordination.
  Activities include drawing, stringing beads,
  catching and throwing the ball, etc.