An update to the current understanding and potential of stem cell therapies for CP.
Intervention to improve function for children and young people with cerebral palsy needs to include client-chosen goals and whole-task practice of goals. Clinicians should consider child/family preferences, age, and ability when selecting specific interventions.
Our research shows that higher Bone Mineral Density (BMD) was associated with a greater risk of fracture, which is opposite of what we would expect. When we picked apart the BMD ratio we found that bone size had the strongest association with fracture risk, such that smaller bones had a greater risk.
Adults with Cerebral Palsy have unique care needs related to physiological changes that occurred with growth and development with Cerebral Palsy, including mental health, yet experience many barriers to proper care.
Purpose of review: Cerebral palsy is the most common physical disability of childhood, but the rate is falling, and severity is lessening. We conducted a systematic overview of best available evidence (2012-2019), appraising evidence using GRADE and the Evidence Alert Traffic Light System and then aggregated the new findings with our previous 2013 findings. This article summarizes the best available evidence interventions for preventing and managing cerebral palsy in 2019.
An international study recently published in the journal Nature Genetics has provided the first firm evidence that for a substantial number of people, their cerebral palsy (CP) may be caused by a genetic mutation, or mis-spelling in the body’s DNA blueprint.
"In addition to commonly associated environmental factors, genomic factors may cause cerebral palsy. We performed whole-exome sequencing of 250 parent–offspring trios, and observed enrichment of damaging de novo mutations in cerebral palsy cases."
Spasticity is usually caused by central nervous system injuries, such as brain injuries or spinal cord injuries. Spasticity is a little different from stiffness.
As we all know, becoming a teenager means significant upheaval, not only physically, but in terms of friendships, in terms of learning, and life outlook. This is also true for adolescents with cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities. We know that whilst we may of spent a lot of time focusing on their physical abilities and other difficulties it is not the only part of their life.
Around the age of six all children are going off to school. Children move from explorative play, which is fairly informal to a much more formal day. That can be a lengthy day and it's quite structured. There are a lot of challenges faced by children with cerebral palsy throughout the school year.
When treating a child with CP, part of a pediatrician’s job is assessing and treating children with abnormal tone difficulties, as well as other muscular-skeletal problems. From around the age of two years, kids start to develop difficulties with muscle tone that can have an impact on their hip development.
Sleep is important to all of us, but it's especially important for infants. When infants go to sleep, they start to create neural networks about what they've been learning during the day. It's estimated that as many as one in five children with disabilities have a sleep disorder, and that's higher than the rate of typically-developing children. Finding sleep interventions for these children is incredibly important so they can lay down their brain networks and continue to learn during their early childhood years.
Early diagnosis begins with a medical history and involves using neuroimaging, standardized neurological, and standardized motor assessments that indicate congruent abnormal findings indicative of cerebral palsy. Clinicians should understand the importance of prompt referral to diagnostic-specific early intervention to optimize infant motor and cognitive plasticity, prevent secondary complications, and enhance caregiver well-being.