Cerebral palsy is a term that applies to a range of different conditions. These conditions include dyskinetic cerebral palsy, ataxic cerebral palsy, blended forms of cerebral palsy and several other medical conditions. Whatever the actual nature of the disorder may be, doctors are always making advances that allow them to offer better treatments for this condition. If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, right now is one of the best times to be seeking treatment. Here are some advances that you may not have known about.
Genetics
Recent studies have shown that there may be a genetic factor involved in some cases of cerebral palsy. If this is the case, gene therapy may prove useful. Even if it doesn’t result in a treatment immediately, this knowledge is useful for being able to predict cases of cerebral palsy and, possibly, for being able to prevent cerebral palsy injuries from happening.
Baby Monitoring
The technology available to doctors in the delivery room is always advancing. Today, sophisticated monitors give feedback including the baby’s heart rate, blood pressure and much more. If a bad situation is about to happen, this information can help the doctor to avert it. When your child is delivered in a modern hospital, the doctors have access to a tremendous amount of information compared to what their predecessors had access to. This can help cut down on the amount of births that result in cerebral palsy injuries.
Treatments
The treatments for cerebral palsy are getting better and better all the time. Increasing knowledge of the muscles, brain development, drug therapies and so forth have resulted in some tremendous advances. Even the physical therapy available to children today has benefited from advances in sports medicine and the knowledge of physiology that have made it much more effective and much less painful for people.
Cerebral palsy will always be a challenge. There’s no way around the fact that somebody with cerebral palsy is going to face difficulties that people without this medical condition will never have to deal with. What’s promising, however, is a wide array of treatments and techniques that make it much more feasible for cerebral palsy sufferers to enjoy a higher quality of life and a more independent life.