March is National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month

March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, making this an ideal time for everyone to learn more about this life-altering condition.

Cerebral palsy is caused by brain damage or disruption in brain development. This can occur before birth, during birth, or in infancy. Cerebral palsy is a lifelong disability that may require constant treatment.

The causes of cerebral palsy may vary throughout the fetal development and birthing phases. In utero, cerebral palsy may be caused by genetic mutations, maternal infections, fetal stroke, infant infections, traumatic head injury, lack of oxygen, and more. However, the exact trigger for fetal cerebral palsy usually cannot be determined.

Complications with labor resulting in birth injury may also contribute to cerebral palsy. Breech births, where a child is born feet first, can make labor difficult which may cause injury to the infant.

Other birth complications such as detachment of the placenta, uterine rupture, or umbilical cord complications may lead to oxygen disruption and cerebral palsy, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Cerebral palsy may also be acquired after birth, although this is rare. In these cases, the condition is often prompted by traumatic head injury in an accident or fall.

Symptoms of cerebral palsy often appear during infancy or even as late as preschool years. According to the Mayo Clinic, children may present with impaired movements and reflexes, abnormal posture, floppiness or rigidity of the limbs and trunk, involuntary movements, unsteady walking, swallowing issues, eye muscle imbalance, reduced range of motion, intellectual disabilities, and more. More severe symptoms such as epilepsy, blindness, or deafness may also occur.

There is a wide range of symptoms that individuals may experience with cerebral palsy, meaning that there is no “typical experience”. Learning about cerebral palsy symptoms and outcomes is necessarily a unique task for each patient.

Some symptoms may be treated with medication, while others require surgery. Other patients may respond well to physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, language therapy, or recreational therapy. As with most conditions, treatment plans are always being developed with clinical trials being conducted by the Mayo Clinic and other facilities.

Over 700,000 individuals live with cerebral palsy. Only a small portion of these individuals have intellectual and mental disabilities to accompany their physical challenges. Unfortunately, many people generalize about cerebral palsy and rely on stereotypes to understand the condition.

This month, we can recognize and bring awareness to cerebral palsy by acknowledging the diversity of experiences in affected individuals. Some with cerebral palsy need a wheelchair, while others may be able to run. Some individuals have clear speech while others cannot speak at all.

Whether you wear green to bring awareness to the condition, don a cerebral palsy awareness ribbon, or participate in a Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day event on March 25, we can all do our part in bringing awareness to this condition and helping the general public understand cerebral palsy better.