Cerebral Palsy

As we have said, cerebral palsy, also called CP, is an overall term used to describe a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to control the body's movements. The disorders appear in the first few years of a person's life and generally do not get worse over time. The term “cerebral” refers to the brain's two halves, or hemispheres, and “palsy” describes any disorder that impairs control of body movement.

But let's not make a mistake here. It's not the muscles or nerves themselves that have something wrong with them. Actually, a person with cerebral palsy has perfectly fine muscles and nerves in his or her body. Instead, what is happening is that there is a problem with the development of, or damage to, those parts of the brain that control movement and posture. Those parts of the brain are called the motor areas. In short, what happens is that the muscles in the body are receiving the wrong instructions about what to do from the damaged part of the brain.