Cerebral Palsy and Massage

Cerebral palsy (CP) affects 2 in every 1000 children born in the United States. This makes it the most common developmental disability today.

CP is a term that is used to describe a variety of symptoms that come from an injury in the portion of the brain that controls muscle tone and movement. This usually occurs when the fetus is developing, but can also occur at birth. Because of this injury, people with CP can't use their muscles like most people and have some difficulty controlling them.

There are some risk factors that will make the likelihood of someone being born with CP higher. They include the following:

• mother younger than 20 or older than 40
• father younger than 20
• first child born to mother
• fifth or more child born to mother
• mother infected with German measles early in pregnancy
• Rh or ABO blood type incompatibility between mother and fetus
• micro-organisms attack fetus's brain during development
• born premature
• very low birth weight

African-Americans are more likely to have CP than any other ethnic group.

CP is a non-progressive disease with no cure. This means that it doesn't get better or worse. It just stays the same. There are four forms of CP:

Ataxic--People with ataxic CP have low muscle tone and difficulty with balance and depth perception. They seem unsteady when walking or standing, have difficulty with fine motor skills and tend to tremor.

Athetoid--This form of CP affects 10% of the people with CP. People with athetoid CP have low muscle tone and difficulty maintaining their posture. They also have difficulty with coordination and tend to have jerky movements. They display many involuntary movements that interfere with speaking, eating or grasping for things. These movements increase when they feel stress and go away when they sleep.

Spastic--80% of people with CP have this form. Spastic CP causes tightness and stiffness in one or more muscle groups. People with this form of cerebral palsy have stiff, jerky movements and difficulty changing positions. They often have difficulty grabbing and letting go of objects.

Mixed Cerebral Palsy--Mixed CP is a combination of 2 or more of the above forms of CP.

People with CP usually receive combinations of therapies to help manage their condition. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, massage therapy, and speech therapy are helpful in managing CP.

I worked with children with CP for 3 years and found that massage helped decrease tone in spastic muscles. Because CP is the result of brain injury, I've found that CranioSacral therapy is affective in helping the muscles. Jostling or rocking the limbs also helps them to release. Passive ranges of motion helped maintain and even increase flexibility. I combined these more gentle forms of bodywork with some deep tissue massage and neuromuscular therapy.

The children I worked with were profoundly retarded besides having CP. They were unable to speak, but I could tell from the way their faces lit up during their treatments that they enjoyed their massages. From personal experience, I know that massage can help people with CP have more comfortable lives.

I found this video online about massage and CP and thought it was very good.