Athetoid Cerebral palsy

Athetoid cerebral palsy is a type of cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a brain disorder which affects body movements and coordination of muscles. A child gets affected by this disease mostly during mother's pregnancy period, delivery, or suddenly after delivery. Athetoid cerebral palsy is also known as dyskinetic cerebral palsy. Athetoid cerebral palsy occurs as a muscle tone mixture, either too loose or too tight. The patients who are affected by this disease suffer from a serious problem of holding position difficulty in upright and they show involuntary motions. They face trouble to be in steady positions of sitting and walking.

A lot of difficulties are aroused due to athetoid cerebral palsy. It is characterized by slow and involuntary muscle movement, unwanted movements such as random, jerky movements. The patient will have more difficulty in holding objects like pen or eating foods, due to the mixed tone caused in muscles. They find it very difficult to do usual things such as scratching the nose and it may occur to the entire body parts. The patient also appears to be restless even after long relaxation or sleep. They will not be able to maintain posture and cannot sit or walk in a proper way. The involuntary movements caused often in the face, trunk and arms also extend with problems in speaking, grasping, feeding and other movements. Athetoid cerebral palsy that affects speech is known as dysarthria. Athetoid cerebral palsy occurs in about 25% of the cerebral palsy patients.

Athetoid Cerebral Palsy Symptoms

-> Increased or decreased muscle tone.
-> Damage in the basal ganglia of the brain.
-> Holding posture inability.
-> Mental retardation, learning disabilities, sensory impairments.
-> Pain and sleep disorders.

Causes for Athetoid Cerebral Palsy

-> Problems in development of intrauterine because of infection / radiation exposure.
-> Asphyxia happening before birth, brain hypoxia.
-> Birth trauma caused during delivery, perinatal period complications.
-> Early pregnancy death in identical twins.
-> Premature infants are highly vulnerable to this disease.
-> Other common causes such as severe jaundice, physical brain injury, lead poisoning, meningitis, may also lead to this disease.

Treatments given for Athetoid Cerebral Palsy

According to the type of symptoms detected, the treatments given to athetoid cerebral palsy will vary. As soon as it is detected, Physical exercises such as daily muscle exercises is given. Also "range of motion" exercises are given to prevent muscles from being weak or rigid. The other common treatments include speech therapy, yoga, martial arts, interpersonal therapy, occupational therapy, conductive education, medication, medical surgery, and many more.

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