Question
Is cerebral palsy a condition that might be discovered later in life? I didn’t notice any issues at birth, and all checks were healthy. Could it be acquired cerebral palsy later on?
Answer
Cerebral palsy usually manifests before birth or during infancy, with potential causes including birth injuries, neonatal jaundice, brain hypoxia, and preterm birth. Symptoms primarily include increased muscle tone, difficulty with abduction, and in severe cases, muscle rigidity, spasms, and joints maintaining a flexed posture. Mild symptoms might only involve poor fine motor skills in the hands and the inability to place the heel down when walking. Patients often have language development and articulation disorders as well as strabismus. About one-third of patients experience varying degrees of seizures and intellectual disabilities. Cerebral palsy can lead to delayed motor development; if a child is still inactive and not moving much at three months old, or does not exhibit crawling movements when lying on their stomach; or if their hands are still tightly clenched at four to six months old. Other symptoms include an anxious gait and scissor gait. Many drugs cannot directly cross the blood-brain barrier to produce direct pharmacological effects, and rehabilitation exercises can only improve the imitating abilities of children with intellectual disabilities due to cerebral palsy and enhance certain motor skills. These treatments that only address symptoms rather than the root cause cannot solve the fundamental problem. Traditional Chinese medicine “Guilong Nao Kang” can directly act on brain cells, promoting protein synthesis, combating cortical hypoxia, improving brain energy metabolism, and accelerating the brain circulation. This helps promote the growth and development of brain cells and has the potential to restore a child’s speech, walking ability, and intellectual level to normal.