The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its recommendations for Primary Care Providers to provide a "Medical Home" for children and youth with cerebral palsy. This comprehensive update gives primary care pediatricians the guidance they need to address the many needs that children and youth with CP experience and coordinate care across disciplines. The Cerebral Palsy Foundation has created a checklist to help guide you in raising your child with CP to living the healthiest life possible and ensure that you and your pediatrician are addressing all of your concerns.
Living with CP taught Dr. Kathleen Friel much about educating others about her disability and now about her life threatening diagnosis of Metastatic Breast Cancer.
Pain in people with cerebral palsy is very common, and probably not evaluated frequently enough.
It's really hard just to watch someone walk to decide what's wrong with them. A better way is to do what's called Three Dimensional Gait Analysis, and that's where the child comes into one of our labs. Here, we put markers on their face, hands, and legs. We have a computer and a bunch of cameras all around the room. And then we're able to break down the gait into three dimensions.
As an orthopedic surgeon I take care of children from the time they're born all the way through to adulthood . My oldest patient I have is 87 years old. As part of my practice I'm able to take care of all of their musculoskeletal problems, their problems with their bones and their joints.
The spine is made up of many individual bones called vertebrae joined together by muscles and ligaments. Flat, soft discs separate and cushion the vertebrae from rubbing against each other. Because the vertebrae are separate, the spine is flexible and can bend. Together the vertebrae, discs, muscles, and ligaments make up the vertebral column or spine.