Cerebral Palsy

What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term for a group of disorders affecting body movement, balance, and posture. Loosely translated, cerebral palsy means "brain paralysis." Cerebral palsy is caused by abnormal development or damage in one or more parts of the brain that control muscle tone and motor activity (movement). The resulting impairments first appear early in life, usually in infancy or early childhood. Infants with cerebral palsy are usually slow to reach developmental milestones such as rolling over, sitting, crawling, and walking. Common to all individuals with cerebral palsy is difficulty controlling and coordinating muscles. This makes even very simple movements difficult.

The damage to the brain can occur at different stages of development
1. Early in pregnancy (prenatal) when the brain is just starting to form, estimated at 70%-80% of cases
2. During the birth process (perinatal) as the child passes through the birth canal, usually 10% of cases
3. After birth (postnatal) in the first few years of life.- infections or seizures or vaccinations.

What is the Chiropractic Approach?
Because the damage has occurred and become established early in the life of a child it is all about increasing the lifestyle of the patient. Both Chiropractic and Cranial (head bones) techniques have proved helpful with many patients. From Research studies Children with cerebral palsy respond to chiropractic care

Eighth Annual Vertebral Subluxation Research Conference October 7-8, 2000 in Spartanburg, SC. in the October, 2000 Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research.
All four children in the study were medically diagnosed with cerebral palsy that was the result of birth trauma from medical deliveries. The children were placed under a course of chiropractic care. Surface EMG exams and Thermographic exams were performed to document their response to care. Their mothers and care-givers monitored changes in activities-of-daily-living and quality-of-life factors.
All four children showed a positive response to chiropractic care. All showed improvement in muscle tone via EMG re-evaluation and autonomic function via follow-up thermography readings. Activities-of-daily-living such as mobility, range of motion, coordination, concentration, behavior, discipline, emotional states, vigor, feeding and appetite, sleeping patterns, balance and postural control showed improvement as well.

Cerebral Palsy less of a handicap with chiropractic. (1)

Dr. Henry Rubinstein began adjusting 96 severely handicapped persons in United Cerebral Palsy-operated cluster homes. From the article:
He (Dr. Henry) comes to adjust them and stimulate their immune system to function better, and it works. My kids are happier and healthier. Even their skin color and tone is better"- says the nurse guardian of a foster home with CP and handicapped children.

Case study: Treatment of a cerebral palsy patient. Sweat, R. Ammons, D. (2)

This is the case of a 40 year old women with cerebral palsy since 2 years old. She had been experiencing severe pain all her life. The Doctors advised she had to learn to "live with it" From the article: "The patient began to respond to [chiropractic] treatment almost immediately, and improvement continued gradually over about the first 2-3 weeks." Within two months of beginning care, "The patient...stated that this is the first time in her life that she has ever been free of pain."

Case study: mental retardation/cerebral palsy. (3)
This case study was of a 6 year old male with cerebral palsy, mental retardation. He showed development disorders until 30 months. Then these became more progressive. There was no family history of mental retardation cerebral palsy. The child began having chiropractic adjustments. After four weeks of treatments the school teacher asked if he had been prescribed new medication because his behaviour had improved so much. The mother stated "No, we're trying chiropractic care." Five months later he was able to follow verbal directions and his toilet accidents had reduced. His speech was improving and he was communicating better.

Sadly many of these patients have normal to higher intelligence, they are unable to verbalise or use keyboards to express themselves, so any improvement in their conditions with motor skills (hand movements for computers) or speaking skills should be encouraged.

Chiropractic can help.
Every day thousands of patients visit Chiropractic clinics with different health issues. Patients do not realise the variety of conditions that we treat. So we encourage you to call our office and talk with us. Maybe you, or maybe a friend you know could be helped
(1) Rubinstein, H.. The Chiropractic Journal July 1992.
(2)Today's Chiropractic Nov/De8c 198. P.51-52.
(3) Webster, L. Chiropractic Paediatrics. Vol. 1 No. 2 Aug 1994 Pp.15-16.

DISCLAIMER This information is provided for Educational Purposes Only and has NOT been designed to diagnose, treat or cure any health conditions. Please consult a qualified Health Care Professional to diagnose your health conditions and avoid self-diagnosis.