World Cerebral Palsy Day takes place yearly on October sixth. The objectives of the day within the last 3 years have been the next:

• 2020: “A greater future”: Considering the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization highlighted the indisputable fact that families had serious economic problems to face the treatments of patients with cerebral palsy.
• 2021: “168 hours”: This number refers back to the hours per week that a patient needs special care to perform each day activities.
• 2022: “I resolve”: Last 12 months’s slogan focused on the rights of patients who, despite their pathology, must have the opportunity to choose about their life, treatment, and care.

What’s cerebral palsy?

World Cerebral Palsy Day reminds us that we aren’t coping with a single clinical condition. In actual fact, this term includes different disorders that affect complex neuronal functions.

The issue all the time lies within the motor cortex of the brain. That is the region that manages the muscles. Hence there’s a paralysis, an inability to mobilize certain regions of the anatomy.

The types of cerebral palsy are as follows:

• Ataxic: The major problem of those patients is balance.
• Spastic: That is the variant that presents a rise in muscle tone, in order that they change into rigid and limit the patient’s movements.
• Dyskinetic: This can be a form focused on the upper and lower limbs, with almost no involvement of the trunk.
• Mixed: These are patients who’ve a mixture of a few of the above symptoms and don’t fulfill the total description to be categorized within the ataxic, spastic, or dyskinetic forms.

Causes

The causes of cerebral palsy normally return to the time of gestation or childhood. Infantile cerebral palsy is sort of all the time present, as early onset is more common.

Children who are suffering from meningitis or encephalitis within the early years are in danger. These infections are able to permanently damaging the cerebral cortex, leaving sequelae in the shape of an absence of balance and coordination.

Injuries or traumatic brain injuries are also in charge for the disorder. A automobile accident, an unlucky fall, or children suffering child abuse are risk aspects and situations.

Finally, we must mention irrigation failures. When the brain doesn’t receive an adequate amount of blood for a protracted time frame, neurons die and don’t regenerate. That is the case of cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs) or congenital cardiac pathologies that some children are born with.

Diagnosis and treatment

Diagnosis begins with suspicion. Should you notice that a toddler isn’t evolving as he/she should and isn’t developing in keeping with the parameters of his/her age, a consultation will be made.

If there may be a history of a brain infection, a stroke, or an issue on the time of pregnancy, the pediatrician can have more elements to access the diagnosis. Sometimes, laboratory tests or genetic panels provide definitive information. Other times, only muscle tone and reflex tests are used.

Certainly one of the objectives of World Cerebral Palsy Day is to make the characteristics of the disease known with a purpose to facilitate suspicion. The sooner it’s detected, the higher the care can be.

We must understand that there’s no cure or total treatment. What’s sought is comfort and one of the best quality of life for patients.

The approach involves various specialties, from physiatrists to occupational therapists, from dentists to psychologists. It isn’t a walk in the park. The participation of members of the family and caregivers is crucial.

Patients’ rights on World Cerebral Palsy Day

It’s estimated that, out of each 1000 live births, 2 suffer from cerebral palsy.

Amongst them, half are intellectually disabled and 25% suffer from epilepsy. On this context, the rights of patients with the disorder are sometimes violated, as there’s a bent to assume that others should resolve for them.

The World Cerebral Palsy Day slogan in 2022, “I resolve”, goals to reverse this reality. Patients are subjects of rights and will need to have access to the decision-making processes that involve them.

The Spanish Cerebral Palsy association, ASPACE, found that greater than 75% of individuals with the disorder feel discriminated against. In turn, almost half of the patients recognize that they don’t have a whole knowledge of their rights. Due to this fact, they’re limited in asserting their rights.

How can I contribute?

The rights of minority groups aren’t the exclusive responsibility of those groups. Quite the opposite, it’s society as an entire that must put in place protection mechanisms.

World Cerebral Palsy Day permits you to participate through your social networks, to advertise visibility. It’s also possible to share with your mates or colleagues a note on the topic.

Organizations in each country have ways to donate funds or collaborate in volunteering. There are alternative ways to participate and each act counts, even when it seems small.

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