Cerebral palsy is a broad term describing a group of disorders of posture and movement resulting from some damage to motor control centers of the brain, or abnormal development of those motor control centers.
Palsy in the Cerebral palsy name stands for paralysis. In a healthy organism voluntary body movements, such as running, chewing etc. are accomplished thanks to skeletal muscles, that is muscles attached to bones. Cerebral palsy is used to describe paralysis or uncontrolled muscle movements. Thus, Cerebral palsy denotes diseases, or disorders connected with unusual and abnormal movements as well as paralysis which is the result of malfunction of the cerebral cortex. If, however, such diseases are caused by degeneration of the human brain it excludes Cerebral palsy (CP). Cerebral palsy does not encompass diseases affecting muscle control which arise in muscles or in the nervous system.
Mild Cerebral palsy may cause only minor difficulties with fine motor skills such as precise use of hands and grasping. More severe Cerebral palsy involves more serious muscle problems in all limbs and causes troubles with hearing, vision, speech, but also seizures and mental retardation.
Cerebral palsy may be the cause of ataxia, dyskinesia, spastic and athetosis. Rarely, also a combination of these problems might occur. The majority of people with Cerebral palsy suffer from spastic CP.
