What is cerebral palsy?
Cerebral palsy is a syndrome caused by damage to the immature stage of brain development from before birth to early after birth, with limb movement disorders and postural abnormalities as the main causes.
PS: Cerebral palsy ≠ brain disability, intellectual disability
Cerebral palsy = limb movement disorders and postural abnormalities
What are the causes of cerebral palsy?
The main causes can be summarized into 8 words: premature birth, difficult birth, asphyxia, jaundice.
Low weight babies, febrile convulsions, multiple pregnancies, intracranial infections, and intracranial hemorrhage can also cause cerebral palsy.
How many types of cerebral palsy are there?
The main types are spastic, tardive dyskinesia, ataxia, rigidity, tremor, hypotonia, mixed and undifferentiated. The spastic type accounts for about 2/3 of the cases.
How to detect cerebral palsy early?
If there are causes such as difficult birth, premature birth, asphyxia, jaundice, etc., the child may have cerebral palsy with delayed motor development and impaired limb movement.
Which type of cerebral palsy is treated well with surgery?
Simple spastic cerebral palsy has the best results. It generally requires near normal intelligence, some motor ability and no obvious deformities.
What types of cerebral palsy are not suitable for surgery?
Those with ataxia, low muscle strength and severe mental retardation are generally not suitable for surgery and should be treated with rehabilitation measures.
How should cerebral palsy patients who are not suitable for surgery be treated?
Cases not suitable for surgery are mainly treated by rehabilitation training. If necessary, braces can be used to prevent joint deformation.
What is the best age for surgical treatment?
The best age for surgery is from 3-6 years old.
Before the age of 3, it is difficult to assess the function of cerebral palsy due to the child’s lack of cooperation, and the rehabilitation of the child after surgery is generally difficult.
After the age of 7, especially after going to school, children with cerebral palsy have long-term spasticity of the limbs, resulting in secondary deformation and contracture of joints, tendons and ligaments, which often require stage II orthopedic surgery; it is difficult to ensure the time for rehabilitation training because of school; and there is a sense of inferiority among classmates because of the movement disorder.