Cerebral Palsy Types – Spastic, Dyskinetic, Ataxic, Mixed Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy can present in a variety of manner. The disability also varies from clumsiness in gait to sever disability. Most common problem in cerebral palsy is sensory motor issue. Clinically cerebral palsy can have a different pattern of movement disorder like spastic, dyskinetic, ataxic & mixed cerebral palsy types.
Spastic
In spastic cerebral palsy , there is increase tone of muscles, so body of these children is tight and less flexible.
Dyskinetic
Dyskinetic cerebral palsy can also present in variety of manner like athetoid, dystonic, chorea, hemibalismus. In athetoid variety, the child has purposeless abnormal movement but tone is normal.
DystonicÂ
In dystonic cerebral palsy child has twisting & abnormal movement but tone is increased only while he is awake and is normal during rest. In chorea the child has abnormal movement in fingers & hand but in hamibalismus, the child has jerky movement of the whole extremity. In ataxic variety, the child has unbalanced drunken gait. Usually dyskinetic & ataxic variety affect the whole body, rarely dystonic can affect one part of extremity. Spastic variety can affect from one extremity to the whole body.
Monoplegic Cerebral Palsy
In monoplegic, only one limb is affected
Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy
In Hemiplegic cerebral palsy one side is affected but in diplegic, both lower limbs are affected along with some functional disability in the upper limb.
Triplegic Spastic Cerebral Palsy
In this variation both lower limbs and one upper limb are affected.
Spastic Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy
In spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy all four limbs are affected more severely. Most of the time cerebral palsy affected individuals can also have sensory perception issues.
Severity can be classified according to GMFCS system. In GMFCS 1 the child has the only mild problem and can run, walk independently except some difficulty in highly skilled task whereas in grade 2 child is independent in indoor but in outdoor & climbing up-stairs they need some support. In GMFCS 3, the child needs support during both indoor and outdoor work.
In GMFCS 4, the child has supported standing & transfer but needs wheel chair mobility for outdoor activity. In GMFCS 5 child always needs a wheel chair for all purposes. During an adolescent growth spurt, with an increase in weight child can deteriorate in GMFCS scale but most of the time it is stable. This scale is only for a prognostic purpose not for evaluating outcome.
Others types of Cerebral Palsy
