What Are the Signs of Cerebral Palsy in Infants?

Neonatal cerebral palsy refers to neonatal cerebral palsy caused by a variety of reasons (such as infection, bleeding, trauma, etc.), the development of non-progressive, central motor dysfunction and development of paralysis. Severe cases are accompanied by mental retardation, limb twitching, and visual, auditory, and speech dysfunction. There are mainly spastic, mixed, tonic, and ataxia.

Neonatal cerebral palsy

Western Medicine Name: Neonatal cerebral palsy
English name: newborn cerebral palsy
Affiliated Department: Internal Medicine-Neurology
Disease site: brain
The main symptoms: Mental retardation, epilepsy, limb twitching, vision, hearing, speech dysfunction

Main cause: Brain hypoplasia, premature birth, brain damage
Multiple groups: Newborn, premature, child
Contagious: Non-contagious
Whether to enter health insurance: Yes
Main type: Spasmodic, tonic, agitation, imbalance

Definition of neonatal cerebral palsy

Neonatal cerebral palsy is a non-progressive brain injury syndrome caused by various reasons within 1 month after birth. It is mainly manifested as central dyskinesia and posture abnormalities, and is often accompanied by intelligence, sight and hearing, eating, and swallowing. , Speech, behavior, and other obstacles can seriously affect children's life. In particular, the main effect of pediatric cerebral palsy on children is dyskinesia, and some children may be accompanied by a certain level of mental retardation, but it is fundamentally different from 'dementia' caused by human chromosomal abnormalities and chromosomal aberrations.

Causes of neonatal cerebral palsy

The causes of neonatal cerebral palsy can be divided into three aspects,

One is prenatal, the other is postnatal, and the last is postnatal.

Prenatal factors include the influence of parents' bad habits such as smoking and alcohol abuse, or some diseases such as diabetes, hypertension syndrome and excessive use of contraceptives are the causes of prenatal cerebral palsy.

It is also very likely to cause infant cerebral palsy during childbirth. If the baby is traumatized at birth or the brain is hypoxic during childbirth, or if the woman has a high pregnancy or a history of stillbirth, miscarriage and uterine dysfunction during delivery. Internal infections are the causes of cerebral palsy.

There is also a large part of the causes of postpartum cerebral palsy in postpartum, such as pediatric jaundice and so on.

Therefore, to prevent cerebral palsy couples should pay attention to the marriage check, eliminate the potential harm of adverse factors, and also carry out relevant inspections before pregnancy to rule out diseases that may cause cerebral palsy and ensure safe pregnancy.

Neonatal cerebral palsy symptoms

1. The body is soft and the spontaneous movement is reduced. This is a symptom of low muscle tone, which can be seen in one month. If it lasts for more than 4 months, it can be diagnosed as severe brain damage, mental retardation, or muscular system disease.

2. The body is stiff, which is a symptom of hypertonia, which can be seen in one month. Cerebral palsy can be diagnosed if it lasts more than 4 months.

3. Head circumference abnormality: Head circumference is an objective indicator of brain morphological development. Children with brain injury often have abnormal head circumference.

4, fixed posture: often due to brain injury caused by abnormal muscle tension, such as angled bow reflex, frog position, inverted U-shaped posture and so on. Visible one month after birth.

5. Poor weight gain and weak breastfeeding.

6, strabismus: 3-4 months of babies with strabismus and poor eye movement can suggest the presence of brain damage.

Neonatal cerebral palsy typing

Neonatal cerebral palsy spasm cerebral palsy

Is the most typical and common type. The main manifestations are spastic paraplegia or quadriplegia, which is dominated by both lower limbs. The child had difficulty walking and standing, and walked on tiptoe with scissors gait. Muscle tone is significantly increased, tendon reflexes are hyperactive, and pathological reflexes may be present. It is often accompanied by language and intellectual disabilities.

Neonatal cerebral palsy dystonia cerebral palsy

More common in young children, mainly manifested by a significant reduction in muscle tone. Can not stand and walk, head and neck can not be raised, dyskinesia is obvious, joint motion range is too large, but tendon reflexes are active, pathological reflexes may occur. It is often accompanied by aphasia and mental retardation.

Neonatal cerebral palsy

Mostly caused by nuclear jaundice and neonatal asphyxia caused by basal nucleus damage. The child presented with dance-like or slow-moving movements on the face, tongue, lips, and trunk limbs. Accompanied by dyskinesias and increased muscle tone.

Neonatal cerebral palsy ataxia cerebral palsy

Rarely, it is due to cerebellar dysplasia. The main clinical manifestations are hypotonia, ataxia, intentional tremor, articulation disorder, and motor retardation.

Ankylosing Cerebral Palsy: The muscle tone of the whole body is significantly increased, stiff, and the extrapyramidal system is damaged.

Tremor type cerebral palsy: mostly quiver related to extrapyramidal system.

Neonatal cerebral palsy ankylosing cerebral palsy

Ankylosing cerebral palsy is an extrapyramidal injury, also known as tonic-rigid, constrictive cerebral palsy. At present, simple tonic cerebral palsy is very rare in the clinic, and it is often mixed with spastic cerebral palsy. The biggest feature of tonic cerebral palsy is resistance to passive movement. Because tonic cerebral palsy is an extrapyramidal injury, the biggest difference from spastic cerebral palsy is that the tonic cerebral palsy tendon reflex is not hyperactive or normal or weakened, without ankle clonics and involuntary movement. Spastic cerebral palsy tendon reflexes are very active, with ankle clonus, all without movement.

Neonatal cerebral palsy tremor type cerebral palsy

Tremorous cerebral palsy is mostly caused by extrapyramidal injury and cerebellar injury. There are two types of clinically:

The first one is static tremor, mostly coarse rhythmic tremor, 3-5 times per second. It can be controlled to stop tremor when it is free to move. It is more common in upper limbs and hands, and there are alternating flexion and extension movements. And adduction actions;

The second is action tremor, which is mostly caused by cerebellar injury. This kind of tremor is random tremor, which manifests as tremor in random movement. When the voluntary movement stops, the tremor disappears. The closer the finger is to the target, the more severe the tremor becomes. Children have nystagmus, which can be clinically tested with finger, nose, knee, tibia and other tests, sometimes with balance dysfunction.

Neonatal cerebral palsy mixed cerebral palsy

The same child can have the above 2 to 3 types of symptoms, coexisting hand and foot movements and spasm symptoms, and muscle tension is significantly reduced in some parts or under certain symptoms.

Prevention of neonatal cerebral palsy

The following aspects should be paid attention to in preventing cerebral palsy:

1. First, before the child is born:

(1) Pregnant women should actively carry out early prenatal check-ups and do perinatal care to prevent fetal congenital diseases;

(2) quit bad habits, such as smoking and drinking, and do not abuse drugs such as narcotics and sedatives;

(3) Prevention of viral infections such as influenza and rubella, without contact with cats and dogs;

2. When the fetus is born, that is, during childbirth. Fetal asphyxia and intracranial hemorrhage caused by childbirth are an important cause of cerebral palsy in children. Premature and dystocia should be prevented. Medical personnel should carefully and carefully handle all aspects of childbirth, and do a good job of handling difficult fetuses.

3. Within one month after the birth of the fetus, it is necessary to strengthen nursing, rational feeding, and prevent intracranial infection and brain trauma.

4. Pregnant women with the following conditions should do prenatal examination as soon as possible:

(1) Older pregnant women (over 35 years old) or man over 50 years old;

(2) Close relatives get married.

Misunderstanding of neonatal cerebral palsy treatment

Misunderstanding 1: Although some parents find that their children cry for unknown reasons, have poor milk, are too quiet, and have stiff bodies when they are frightened, they simply think that their children are young and weak. Is it a cold? Is it bad digestion? Is it another infection?

Misunderstanding 2: When parents of premature babies see that their children's motor development, such as turning over, lying down, sitting, standing, and walking, lags behind other normal age children, they often simply think that it is caused by premature birth, and the child will develop with natural growth. Slowly recover, often adopt a "wait and see" attitude.

Misunderstanding 3: When parents find that children have abnormal postures during exercise, they often think that there is a problem with the child's bones and muscles, which delays the timing of consultation.

Misunderstanding 4: Once the child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy by a doctor, parents often take the first attitude to seek medical care blindly, hoping to relieve the child's motor dysfunction through conventional "injection and medication". Cerebral palsy in children is a group of syndromes such as motor dysfunction, mental retardation, epilepsy, aphasia, and deafness caused by substantial brain damage before and after birth.

Treatment of neonatal cerebral palsy

Psychological therapy Children are younger, but at the same time they can also undergo psychological treatment. Children often have emotional disorders, abnormal behaviors, and cognitive impairment. For the psychological disorders of children with cerebral palsy, respect the patients in comprehensive treatment, carefully listen and understand, comfort, and encourage children. While correcting limb dysfunction, stimulate children's active participation and improve the effect of treatment training is also a method of treating cerebral palsy To improve the health education of children's psychological state, actively communicate with children, gradually overcome children's paranoia, rely on psychology, build independence, self-confidence, strong and upward confidence, cultivate their self-care ability, and adapt them to society.

2. Physiotherapy: Physical therapy for children with cerebral palsy, such as electroacupuncture, muscle stimulation therapy instrument, hydrotherapy, cold and hot compress. The main purpose is to regulate function, relieve contraction, stimulate low muscle tone, promote circulation, maintain and expand joint mobility, increase muscle strength, and thereby improve balance and gait.

3. Use of orthopedic appliances: In the training of children with cerebral palsy, the application of braces is very important. For example, young children with constrictive cerebral palsy have spasms of the lower back muscles of the lower legs, which prevents the heel from landing and the ankle joint Unstable and flat feet are also common, and ankle orthopedic braces can be used.

4. Exercise therapy: According to the different clinical types of sclerosis, specific training is carried out, including coarse movements, fine movements, balance and coordination training. Confidence in overcoming difficulties enables children to have a healthy mindset and lay the foundation for future return to society.