Wheeling, IL (PressExposure) January 22, 2011 -- When it comes to a disease as misunderstood as cerebral palsy, there are literally thousands of opinions on it's cause, it's treatment, and the ways that it can be cured, if possible, but the one thing that they all agree upon is that this is a terrible disease which we know very little about.
"One of our top priorities when building our site was to make sure that we designated clear delineations on the types of cerebral palsy that exist out there," said the website's creator. "It may not seem necessary or logical at first, but as soon as we get doctors and therapists talking about one focused set of cerebral palsy symptoms, it becomes a lot easier to diagnose and assign working therapies for the patients."
He goes on to state that there are three basic types of cerebral palsy, and while they all affect the same area of the brain and have some similarities, they all have major differences.
"When you get people talking about cerebral palsy, they all talk in general about their own cases, but some may have the symptoms of athetoid cerebral palsy, while others have spastic cerebral palsy. The treatments that work well for one type may not have any impact on other types," he continued. "Because of this, someone needs to inform the public that people don't just get cerebral palsy, they get a specific type that is completely different from other types."
At the core of the issue is the question "what is cerebral palsy?" The answer is actually quite simple - it is brain damage, caused during birth, that is centered along the back of the skull, in an area which affects muscle tonality. As a result, cerebral palsy suffers often have over- and underdeveloped muscle groupings which causes much of their difficulty in walking and other fluid motions that most people can master easily. Of course, this is only one kind of cerebral palsy.
According to the site's creator, "You can also have a cerebral palsy in which your muscle tonality is absolutely, 100% normal, but your centers of balance are off, and it's nearly impossible for you to walk correctly. Another type affects depth perception, and others cause uncontrolled movements."
This new resource was put in place with the aid of medical doctors, physical therapists, and even the help of many people, from children to adults who suffer from cerebral palsy. With the combination of information, a definitive list of the three major types of cerebral palsy. If others join in and follow suit with this typography, the treatments and therapies that can be had for cerebral palsy should see significant advances in the coming years.