Children Hemiplegia causes and treatments

Cerebral palsy is the most common type of children hemiplegia in North America. Childhood hemiplegia is said to occur in at least one out of every one thousand births in North America. In some cases of children hemiplegia, there may be a few symptons initially but most have an obvious deformity by the age of 2 years.
Hemiplegia means paralysis of one side of the body. The classic disorder which presents with children hemiplegia is cerebral palsy. In this condition, there is a disruption of brain impulses to the muscles. The eventual result is a body which remains contracted, rigid and stiff on one side. While cerebral palsy is one of the most common causes of hemiplegia, there are other causes of childhood hemiplegia like brain infections, cancers and rupture of blood vessels (aneurysms). In all cases, the brain suffers a lack of oxygen for a period of time which leads to death of nerves. The eventual result is paralysis of one side of the body.

In general, if one has damage to the right side of the brain, the paralysis will be on the left side and vice versa.

Experts today suggest that all cases of children hemiplegia that occur up the age of 2 are considered cerebral palsy.

There are many other causes of children hemiplegia besides cerebral palsy and include the following:
- Stroke
- Blood clots or bleeding in the brain
- Head trauma either blunt or penetrating
- Brain tumor
- Infection like meningitis and brain abscess
- Various vasculitis syndromes
- Syndromes of abnormal blood vessels like AV malformations (Sturge Weber)
- Injury during birth

The symptoms of children hemiplegia are quite variable and include the following:

- Difficulty walking
- Difficulty with gait and balance
- difficulty performing fine motor activities like holding a pen, cutting with scissors or drinking from a straw
- Rigid muscles with stiffness on one side of the body
- Weakness on one side of the body
- Seizures
- Delay in mental development. Many children with hemiplegia have an IQ below 70.
- Delay in reaching developmental milestones like crawling, standing, smiling or rolling over
Unfortunately once children hemiplegia has occurred, it is difficult to reverse. There is no cure for this medical disorder. Hemiplegia in most cases continues to progress and the individual will develop more muscle spasticity and joint contractures. Over time, the joints will become deformed.

Disorders like cerebral palsy are permanent but there are treatments which can help improve symptoms. There are medications which can relax muscles and reduce spasticity. Moreover, those individuals who have seizures can be treated with anti seizure medications. There are a various orthopedic braces, splints and orthotic shoe wear which can be worn to prevent joint contractures and keep the body stable.

Children hemiplegia may be a devastating diagnosis for any parent, but if proper therapy is undertaken early in life, some recovery of function is possible.