can people with cerebral palsy get worse??

i knew a boy last year with mild cerebral palsy he could walk and he could kind of run

i moved to a different school this year and i heard from someone that he is now in a wheelchair and might be metally retarded they tried talking to him but he just kinda stared until they walked away

could his cerebral palsy have gotten worse??

Cerebral palsy *never* gets worse. That child must have some other condition.

Although CP itself doesnt progress, CP related injuries may occur. Balance probs may have caused a fall? Breaking a bone which requires a wheelchair during healing? Perhaps there is another ailment in conjunction with the CP? Its hard to know, but Strawberry is right, CP doesnt get worse.

I used to be able to walk to all of my classes and then i started to have knee pain when i started high school. I physically could not walk to my classes so I used my chair all day. Eventually i had to have a major surgery to fix the problem. I'm just saying there may be other reasons that this boy is in his chair that may not be obvious. I don't think if this boy interacted with people in the past and just all of a sudden wouldn't talk that he is mentally retarded.

saying CP *never* gets worse is misleading. The initial injury doesn't get worse, but the secondary effects such as spasticity can certainly get worse and most likely will over time. And I agree with skigirl, there must be outlying reasons for this guys decline.

thanks for the responses they were very reasuring :)

can people with cerebral palsy get worse??

i knew a boy last year with mild cerebral palsy he could walk and he could kind of run

i moved to a different school this year and i heard from someone that he is now in a wheelchair and might be metally retarded they tried talking to him but he just kinda stared until they walked away

could his cerebral palsy have gotten worse??


I'm just offering my and my DH's opinion on this one. Whenever people ask my hubby if his disability is degenerative, or 'gets worse' like MS or Muscular Distrophy, this is what he says: 'No, it's not degenrative like those impairments are, but I do believe that my 'disability' can get 'worse' if I just sit around. My muscles are just like anyone else's. If I don't excercise and stregthen them often, they just go to pot, which yes, will make things 'worse'.

I would also think that, because CP demands so much energy, that a kid may start needing a wheelchair just to be able to keep up and not be bone tired at the end of the day. But that would only explain your kids' physical issues, not the mental ones.

However, I worked with a client once who had muscular distrophy, and what you described is similar to what happened to him, except again for the mental issues.

I have never heard of a kid digressing mentally. It may be that he was mentally disabled all along, but no one noticed until then.

Again, that's just our opinion
Becky

i agree, that the original injury doesn't get worse, but the secondary conditions can become more pronounced as we age, like arthritis, spasticity and pain.

how to help prevent this from happening or getting worse? getting to know your body. keeping active, but not overdoing it (which can cause overuse and a spasticity rebound). there is no magic formula, just trying as best you can to keep in tune with your body's signals, and figuring out when aches mean to get active or to rest.

if you stretch, never do it to the point of pain or spasticity, that can cause a rebound and make you feel more tired or worn out.

that said, exercise can make you feel tired in a good way, but know when to rest so you can keep a regular exercise schedule. modifying exercise during periods of high stress, humidity, or whatever makes your spasticity more pronounced is also useful.

these guidelines aare individualized for people at their own pace. the crash/burn/crash cycle according to someone else's definition of healthy never works.