What is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy is a movement and posture disorder that occurs due to any damage to the developing brain before, during or after birth. Damage occurs in Homonculus Cerebri. Homonculus Cerebri is located in the Cortex, the part of the brain that consists of folds. He is depicted as a person lying upside down. Depending on the damage to Homonculus Cerebri, spasticity-type tonus occurs in the areas it represents in the body. If there is a damage in the Extrapyramidal System, Dyskinetic System and Basal Ganglia, Dystonic type contractions and involuntary movements, which we call Atetoid, occur. Ataxia occurs when a damage occurs in the Cerebellar System. Hypotonia, which is a flaccid condition, occurs as a result of the effects of endocrine or metabolic problems of the brain, in addition to the conditions listed above. Therefore, hypotonia is no longer included in the definition of cerebral palsy. Although it occurs from time to time due to the constant change of science, today it is considered a different condition from Cerebral palsy.

One of the biggest problems in Cerebral Palsy is that our children are diagnosed incorrectly or not in time. When wrong diagnoses are made and wrong medical treatments are applied, our children are both negatively affected by these and lose time, which is the most valuable thing. Hypotonia has been one of the misdiagnoses made for years. Children are in a flaccid state until the age of 3-4, but then dystonic-style contractions occur. In order to prevent this situation, we must be more sensitive about the diagnosis and diagnosis of our children with cerebral palsy. It is necessary to keep up with the ever-changing science and adapt to innovations. In Cerebral Paris, it is very important to first evaluate after diagnosis and then determine a good treatment program. For example, there are very few treatment methods currently used in neurological rehabilitation literature. Because science is in a constant state of development. Reflex inhibitor patterns are one of the treatments that have lost their effectiveness. It is a treatment program that includes practices of standing in positions that are almost impossible for a child to do. Due to these difficulties, it has lost its validity today. Another application is stretching exercises. It has now been proven that stretching exercises lengthen the tendon, not the muscle. Since this situation has a very negative impact on the clinical picture of our child with cerebral palsy, stretching exercises are also considered harmful by a small portion of people today.

The movements that need to be done in the cerebral part should be done very slowly and practiced in many repetitions. We think that sending position information to the brain in this way is the treatment method that reduces spasticity the most. For this reason, the robotic exercise devices we have developed have a very important role in reducing and overcoming spasticity.

One of the common mistakes in Cerebral Palsy is botox application, which is the first thing that comes to mind when stepping on the toe on the ankle. So what happens when Botox is applied? The ankle pushing muscles are paralyzed to a certain extent. Due to this, spasticity decreases. Because the amount of command sent to the muscles there is reduced. If there are 100 nerves reaching a muscle, 50 are inhibited. Thus, spasticity in the ankle is reduced. In fact, with the application of botox, the activity of the muscle is reduced rather than the contraction of the muscle. As a continuation of this practice, rehabilitation exercises include stretching the ankle thrust muscle and stretching exercises to ensure sole contact by pressing the heel to the ground. In the current literature, the treatment program after botox application is as follows. The sole purpose is to provide base contact. The effectiveness period of Botox is approximately 4-6 months.