Orthopedic Surgery and Spastic Diplegia

Posted on October 11, 2007 by David Austin

If you are into reading scientific studies on the efficacy of surgery to improve muscle strength in patients with a cerebral palsy diagnosis then here is a new one.

Muscle strength changes following multi-level surgery in cerebral palsy and the impact of rehabilitation on functional recovery are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to quantify lower limb muscle strength changes in children with spastic diplegia after multi-level orthopaedic surgery and to compare the efficacy of progressive resistance strengthening (RS) versus active exercise (AE).Twenty children with spastic diplegia (mean age 12.5 years) participated in this prospective randomised controlled trial


This is a link to the introduction.  To read the full article you will already have to have a reader that gets you into Elsevier.

Recovery of muscle strength following multi-level orthopaedic surgery in diplegic cerebral palsy

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Etiologic Profile of Spastic Diplegia in Children

Posted on September 11, 2007 by David Austin

This title is from an Abstract published in Pediatric Neurology in the September Issue.  "Etiologic Profile of Spastic Diplegia in Children" is a fancy way of saying what causes Spastic Diplegia.

Here's what jumped out at me.

The top three diagnoses were hypoxic-ischemic perinatal asphyxia (33%), periventricular leukomalacia (15%), and central nervous system infections (11%).In premature children, the most common diagnoses were periventricular leukomalacia (33%), perinatal asphyxia (26%), and central nervous system infections (15%). In term-born children, the most frequent diagnoses were perinatal asphyxia (37%), metabolic disease (12%), and structural malformation or infection (9% each).

There is a higher risk of injury to a child if the child is born premature.  This is why one of the questions we need answered when investigating a medical malpractice action is "Was the child born premature"

You can see from the above results that the "cause" with the highest percentage in full term children is perinatal asphyxia.

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Spastic Cerebral Pasy

Posted on February 23, 2005 by David Austin

The term spastic is used to describe muscle tone that is tight or stiff. The muscle is basically always contracting. Spasticity causes difficulty moving. Often the movements are jerky. Spastic Cerebral Palsy is the most common type of CP. About half of all people with CP have spastic CP.

There are a couple of types of spastic CP, these refer to the parts of the body that are affected: They are Spastic Diplegia, Spastic Hemiplegia and Spastic Quadriplegia.

With Spastic Diplegia it is the legs that are affected. One common result is something called scissoring. This is when the muscles in the legs are so tight that the knees may turn in and cross.

Spastic Hemiparesis is when the spasticity is limited to one side of the body or another. So one leg and one arm are affected (right or left side). Individuals with spastic hemiparesis may also experience hemiparetic tremors, in which uncontrollable shaking affects the limbs on one side of the body. If these tremors are severe, they can seriously impair movement.

Spastic Quadriplegia is the term given to describe spasticity of all 4 limbs. Of the three this is the most severe because it involves so much of the body.
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