Cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy, also known as  cerebral palsy, is an irreversible but non-progressive brain impairment that occurs between birth and the first five years of life, until brain development is complete.
Cerebral palsy may be caused by a medicine used by the pregnant mother during pregnancy, an illness, infection, trauma, or a genetic disorder. Premature or difficult delivery, oxygen deprivation during labor, and cord entanglement are frequently cited as causes of the condition in our country. Brain palsy can also be caused by problems such as a febrile infection or a cerebral hemorrhage after delivery.

Important Symptoms
Families should be careful about the symptoms. If there is a problem in the child's developmental stages, it must be investigated. If the child cannot sit when he/she should sit, cannot hold his/her head when he/she should hold his/her head, has less interest in the environment compared to his/her peers, if primitive reflexes persist for a long time, he/she should definitely be evaluated. Since pediatricians follow these periods of children, their warnings should be taken seriously by the family. If necessary, centers that monitor risky babies should be consulted.

Cerebral palsy is recognized in some children when they reach walking age. Unfortunately, when the family goes to a specialist doctor with the complaint that their child cannot walk and is diagnosed, it may be too late for many things. Therefore, it is very important to follow up children in the risk group from an early stage.

Cerebral palsy may present with retardation in all functions. Mental retardation is also part of this. The child's intelligence may be very close to normal or it may be at a lower level. It may also be accompanied by impairment in vision, hearing and other functions. If intervened early, corrections can be made for vision and hearing.

Diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy can be diagnosed by clinically evaluating children with developmental delay, and tests such as MRI and EMG also help in the diagnosis. Families should not neglect this situation and should consult their doctor when the child is clinically seen to have developmental delay and symptoms are found. The diagnosis is made by the patient's doctor with the results of examinations and tests such as MRI.
Families may sometimes think that their child does not have cerebral palsy by saying that they had an MRI and it came out without any problems. However, it is necessary to be extremely careful in this regard; there are children whose MRI is very close to normal and disease can be seen, as well as children whose MRI indicates a problem but who develop very close to normal.

Referral to Treatment
First of all, it should be known that cerebral palsy is not a standardized disease with the same symptoms in all patients; therefore, treatment varies according to the patient. Treatment lasts for the whole life of the child.
The treatment has many stages and is carried out in cooperation with doctors from different branches. The physiotherapist is of great importance in this disease because the physiotherapist is the person who spends the longest time with the child during treatment. The physiotherapist should observe the child while doing the work and refer the child to the neurologist if he/she sees a problem in the development chart. If he/she thinks that there is a problem with the child's joints, he/she should refer the child to a pediatric orthopedist. The task of pediatric orthopedists in the treatment of cerebral palsy is to apply various methods to keep children standing and walking.