title: Cerebral palsy.
abstract: Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of childhood-onset, lifelong physical disability in most countries, affecting about 1 in 500 neonates with an estimated prevalence of 17 million people worldwide. Cerebral palsy is not a disease entity in the traditional sense but a clinical description of children who share features of a non-progressive brain injury or lesion acquired during the antenatal, perinatal or early postnatal period. The clinical manifestations of cerebral palsy vary greatly in the type of movement disorder, the degree of functional ability and limitation and the affected parts of the body. There is currently no cure, but progress is being made in both the prevention and the amelioration of the brain injury. For example, administration of magnesium sulfate during premature labour and cooling of high-risk infants can reduce the rate and severity of cerebral palsy. Although the disorder affects individuals throughout their lifetime, most cerebral palsy research efforts and management strategies currently focus on the needs of children. Clinical management of children with cerebral palsy is directed towards maximizing function and participation in activities and minimizing the effects of the factors that can make the condition worse, such as epilepsy, feeding challenges, hip dislocation and scoliosis. These management strategies include enhancing neurological function during early development; managing medical co-morbidities, weakness and hypertonia; using rehabilitation technologies to enhance motor function; and preventing secondary musculoskeletal problems. Meeting the needs of people with cerebral palsy in resource-poor settings is particularly challenging.
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic Department, The Royal Children's Hospital, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.|Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia.|Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, The Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: H Kerr
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.affiliation: CanChild Centre, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.affiliation: Departments of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Pediatrics, and Human Development, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Nigel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Paneth
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dan
authors.affiliation: Complex Motor Disorders Service, Evelina Children's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Diane L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Damiano
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jules G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Becher
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Pediatrics, Feinberg Northwestern School of Medicine, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaebler-Spira
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colver
authors.affiliation: Developmental Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Dinah S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Reddihough
authors.affiliation: Developmental Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Kylie E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Crompton
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Lieber
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification*; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000453:epidemiology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology