Hemiparetic or Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy
Despite being considered two separate forms of cerebral palsy, they both come with the same types of disability. Hemiparetic and hemiplegic and similar in that one side of the body will suffer. Doctors consider hemiplegic cerebral palsy more serious, however, because they have found that people will suffer total paralysis on one side of the body. Meanwhile, people who have hemiparetic cerebral palsy will experience muscle weakness, or they might have a milder form of paralysis on the affected side of the body.
Symptoms
There are some symptoms commonly associated with these conditions. Symptoms vary from case to case. Common symptoms that are often experenced include:
- Coordination and walking problems
- Keeping one hand balled into a fist at all times
- Only using a single hand to play
- Much longer time for your child to reach developmental milestones
- Muscle weakness or stiffness on one side
What to Be Aware Of?
It is important to be alert for different medical conditions arising because of how either disorder will relate to the brain damage. You should understand that each childs symptoms will differ, and some have the potential to experience more severe disabilities compared to others. One possible condition that is important to watch for is seizures. Get ahead of this problem as quickly as possible because it can cause further harm or even death to your child. You should also be aware that your child may suffer vision impairment or experience difficulties with eye coordination.
What Can Cause This Condition
Whether your child has hemiparetic or hemiplegic, it always stems from injury to the brain. Most medical experts believe that you will get diagnosed with this before the age of three, and there have several risk factors that can occur. Some of the potential things that have the ability to increase the risk that your child will develop this birth injury include:
- Asphyxia
- Placental infection
- Congenital heart disease
- Infant stroke
- Incompatibility in blood between the mother and child
Approximately 60% percent of cases occurred as a result of infant stroke that led to brain damage. Children with hemiparetic CP do not a have total paralysis of one side, but the one side will be weaker compared to other side.
Fortunately, neither conditions are degenerative. This means that the condition won’t continue to progress. However, this birth disorder can still feel highly disabling because as mentioned, your child may be completely paralyzed on one side of the body. It is important to keep your child active as much as possible to offer improved outcomes.