Spastic Cerebral Palsy and Receiving Social Security Disability
Cerebral palsy designates a group of chronic conditions that affect posture, body movement, muscle coordination and balance. Cerebral palsy results from some kind of brain damage or malformation that occurs either during pregnancy, during delivery or shortly after delivery. There are several different forms of cerebral palsy. Each one is classified by the way that it affects you. Spastic cerebral palsy is one of the kinds of cerebral palsy. Spastic cerebral palsy is characterized by having one or more tight muscle groups that limit your movement. It may cause you to have jerky and stiff movements. You may have a difficult time moving from one position to another, and you may have a hard time holding or letting go of an object. Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common form of cerebral palsy. About 80% of all the cases of cerebral palsy are spastic cerebral palsy. Spastic cerebral palsy is caused by an abnormality in or an injury to your cerebrum, which is the largest part of your brain. This is the part of your brain that controls sensation and voluntary motor function. Spastic cerebral palsy affects your movement, but the underlying difficulty is in your brain, not your muscles. Head injury and certain illnesses can also cause spastic cerebral palsy. For many years, researchers and doctors thought that spastic cerebral palsy was caused by a lack of oxygen during birth. Now, it is believed that only a few cases are caused by problems during labor and delivery. With most cases of spastic cerebral palsy that are congenital (present at birth), doctors do not fully understand what has caused it. There are some possible causes of spastic cerebral palsy that have been identified. Some of these include:- Disturbance to brain circulation before birth
- Abnormal brain development before birth
- Severe jaundice in newborns
- Maternal infection during pregnancy.
- Joint contracture (joints that are tight and do not open all the way up)
- Muscle weakness or loss of movement in a group of muscles (paralysis)
- Muscles that are extremely tight and will not stretch
- Abnormal walk or gait that is marked by your knees touching or being crossed, walking on your toes, your legs making scissors movements and your arms tucked in toward your sides.