New Hope for Improved Cerebral Palsy Treatment

If you are the caregiver of a child or have a family member with cerebral palsy then you know how difficult and painful the condition can be for the diagnosed and the people closest to them. The condition is debilitating and has permanent effects on a patient’s quality of life, ranging from mobility challenges to developmental complications.

One of the most challenging aspects of the condition, for both caregivers and patients, is the problem of movement patterns. It is difficult to determine the precise extent of a patient’s unique mobility functions and that results in limited mobility treatment for individuals with cerebral palsy.

But, a new study has revealed a possible solution to that problem, one that might give children with cerebral palsy a more effective treatment for their mobile limitations. Observing how cerebral palsy patients move and comparing it to the movement of peers without cerebral palsy is the key that unlocked the door treatment possibilities.

The research involved the study of “three-dimensional gait analysis (GA)” in patients with and without the condition. By comparing the movement of the two groups, researchers are able to pinpoint the various ways cerebral palsy changes a patient’s movement patterns.

What’s the result? Four new treatment categories for mobility have been developed, and patients will be placed according to their unique mobile challenges in order to receive the ideal treatment.

“This should give doctors that have access to a gait laboratory further insight into a treatment plan and outcome of surgical intervention for a particular child with cerebral palsy,” said one researcher. These findings increase the chances of improved mobility for a child with cerebral palsy by decreasing the amount of guesswork doctors must do.

The categories are as follows:

1. Close to normal mobility

2. Mobile deviations mainly in the leg(s)

3. Mobile deviations mainly in the arm(s)

4. Mobile deviations in both the arm(s) and leg(s)

Hopefully, these findings will result in a more mobile life for young children diagnosed with cerebral palsy. As an Elyria, Ohio birth injury lawyer, I have seen firsthand the limitations families endure after a cerebral palsy diagnosis — but as research like this continues, so does the hope for lives less restricted by the condition.