How is cerebral palsy treated?

1. Physical therapy

Physical therapy using motor therapy, manipulation and positioning is an essential part of the treatment of children with cerebral palsy. It can help children learn how to control muscles and maintain balance, and help parents learn to assist children to move and live independently as much as possible. Sometimes it is recommended to stretch the muscles in a specific way to help and promote muscle growth, and to use specific exercise therapies to help children improve muscle strength and maintain or improve range of motion. Exercise therapy can help strengthen muscle strength, improve endurance, avoid wasting muscle strength and reduce the development of fixed contracture.

2. Occupational therapy

Job therapy can improve the fine motor control of children's small muscles such as eating, dressing and writing, as well as the control of eye-hand-head coordination. The treatment with specific orthopedic supports and walkers for lower limbs and feet can inhibit spasm by pulling muscles to help alleviate the development of deformity and stabilize the joint. Series plaster immobilization can be used to treat early contracture, where the cast is replaced every few days or weeks to continuously increase the muscle's draft, followed by short-term application of the cast to maintain the draft.

3. Orthopaedic surgery

Only in spastic cerebral palsy can tendon release and lengthening surgery be performed. Surgery may be recommended when muscle contracture, joint stiffness and bone deformity occur due to prolonged muscle spasm. Orthopedic surgery is an effective means to assist rehabilitation therapy.

Cerebral palsy children hip problems should also be treated with caution, different age, treatment recommendations are different. Orthopedic surgery also requires age, athletic ability and IQ. It usually takes six weeks of plaster and six months to a year of rehabilitation to reach the level of movement before surgery, but the trauma of surgery is irreversible and can worsen symptoms if given to the wrong type of child.

4, nerve block puncture needle treatment

Nerve block needle treatment refers to the injection of an anesthetic, such as ethanol or phenols, into the motor nerve that controls the muscle, so as to destroy the central nerve axons and block the transmission of information. The outer myelin sheath of the nerve is well preserved, and it usually takes 6 to 18 months for the nerve to regenerate, which is a very useful technique for those nerves that can only carry motor signals to control the muscle. Most nerves, which carry both motor and sensory signals, are not suitable for such treatment.

5. Botulinum toxin injection therapy

Botulinum toxin type A (BOTOX) is an effective treatment for spasticity in young children with cerebral palsy. Before administering botulinum toxin injections to children with spastic cerebral palsy, children should be carefully examined to ensure that appropriate children are receiving treatment and a treatment plan should be developed. Botulinum toxin is not recommended for use in very young children. The dosage of botulinum toxin injection is very small, and each muscle will be injected with multiple points according to the need to relax the treated muscle and help the smooth progress of rehabilitation treatment.