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Cerebral Palsy: An overviewDisclaimer: This fact sheet is for educational use only. Please consult your doctor or other health professional to make sure this information is right for your child. Key points to remember about cerebral palsy
 Back to TopWhat is cerebral palsy?Cerebral palsy is a disorder of muscle control. It is caused by damage to, or lack of development in a part of the brain that controls movement. Cerebral palsy is the most common physical disability in childhood occurring in one in every 500 live born babies. Cerebral palsy is often called 'CP' for short.
Cerebral palsy causes problems with motor control and co-ordination, such as weakness, stiffness, awkwardness, slowness, shakiness and difficulties with balance.
A child with cerebral palsy may have slight clumsiness in one arm or leg (monoplegia), one side of the body may be affected (hemiplegia), there may be involvement of predominantly the lower limbs (diplegia), or involvement of both arms and legs and the trunk (quadriplegia).
Other difficulties can include problems with speech, hearing or vision, epilepsy, intellectual or learning difficulties, perceptual difficulties such as judging the size and shape of objects, gastro-oesophageal reflux (heartburn), orthopaedic problems (with bones), constipation, feeding difficulties, saliva control problems or repeated chest infections.
There is a wide range of intellectual ability in children with cerebral palsy. Children with a very severe physical disability can have completely normal intelligence.
For more information on some of the difficultes associated with cerebral palsy see:
Back to TopWhat are the types of cerebral palsy?Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common type. Spasticity means stiff or tight muscles. The muscles are stiff because the messages to the muscles are relayed incorrectly from the damaged parts of the brain.
Athetoid cerebral palsy is characterised by uncontrolled movements. This lack of control is often most obvious when the child starts to move - for example, when the child tries to grasp a toy or a spoon. Also, children with athetoid cerebral palsy often have very weak muscles or feel floppy when carried.
Ataxic cerebral palsy (or ataxia) is the least common type. Children with ataxia have unsteady shaky movements or tremor and problems with balance.
Some children also have dystonia. This means that they have involuntary muscle contractions (which they cannot control) causing abnormal movements and / or postures.
Many children do not have just one type of cerebral palsy, but a mixture of several of these movement patterns.
Back to TopWhat causes cerebral palsy?There are many different causes. A problem with the brain can occur:
In some children, despite a careful review and various tests, the cause of cerebral palsy remains unknown. With new technologies such as MRI brain scans and sophisticated blood tests, more causes are slowly being identified.
Back to TopHow is cerebral palsy managed?Management of cerebral palsy is focused on the problems of muscle control and movement, and treatment of the additional health issues. Encouragement and education of families is the most important aspect of care. Management can include:
Back to TopWhere to go for information about cerebral palsyOn this website
Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand
The website provides information about cerebral palsy and services available in NZ.
Website: http://www.cpsoc.org.nz/CP/index.htm
Medsafe (New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority: A Business Unit of the Ministry of Health, New Zealand)
The Medsafe website provides consumer medicine information on Lioresal® Intrathecal1 (baclofen) which is sometimes used in the treatment of cerebral palsy.
Website: http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/
Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
The Royal Children's Hospital website lists a range of resources relevant to families of children with cerebral palsy2.
Please note that while the following resources contain very useful information for New Zealand families, there are some sections in each resource which discuss services available only in Australia and instructions especially for patients of the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.
 The resources listed at the website include:
  Back to TopAcknowledgementsAcknowledgements
This fact sheet has been adapted from:
 Back to TopLinks (these are the web addresses for the numbered links in the text above) Back to TopYour notesEndorsement
This fact sheet was endorsed by PSNZ - 03/11/2009
CopyrightFact sheets are subject to copyright. In the interests of information sharing they may be copied but acknowledgement must be given to PSNZ and Starship Foundation. © The Paediatric Society of New Zealand and Starship Foundation 2005 - 2010
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