According to recent reports, researchers have completed an experiment that showed improvement in the motor skills of children with brain damage. The researchers worked with children who suffer from a condition called hemiparetic cerebral palsy. This is a form of cerebral palsy that only affects one side of the body.
While there are constantly new treatments for cerebral palsy being introduced into the medical world, this one is particularly hopeful. What keeps researchers and physicians from being able to treat the causes of cerebral palsy is the fact that brain damage, at this point, cannot be repaired. This particular body of research focused specifically on introducing gray matter into the brain, increasing the capability of the child to control their muscles.
Brain Damage
Cerebral palsy is defined by its symptoms, but it is caused by brain damage. It can be caused by brain damage during pregnancy, during labor, or shortly after the child is born. There are many different reasons that the child may suffer brain damage. In some cases, the child may end up being starved of oxygen while in the womb. In other cases, the child may end up suffering brain damage due to an infection or another condition that develops after the child is born.
Treatment Options
Even for children who are older, there are new treatment options available. Some of these treatments involve surgeries that sever nerve tissue that causes the characteristic spasms of cerebral palsy. Other treatments involve implanting . There are even treatments available that use electrical impulses to improve communication along the nerve pathways, allowing people with cerebral palsy who have legs that are kept facing in the wrong direction to straighten them out, permitting them to walk.