Cerebral Palsy Symptoms

Cerebral palsy symptoms, which usually start showing up in the early stages of life of the affected people, can vary widely among people according to the extent of damage caused to the brain of the person so affected.

Cerebral palsy is a broad term used to refer to a number of disorders which affect the posture or the movement and balance of the body.

?Cerebral? means of or related to the cerebrum (a part of our brain) and ?palsy’ refers to paralysis which may or may not be accompanied by loss of sensation in the affected area and/ or uncontrolled movements of the body like shaking and shivering, etc. That probably explains the term ?cerebral palsy? comprehensively.

Read on to know more about cerebral palsy symptoms.

Cerebral palsy symptoms

Cerebral palsy symptoms usually manifest themselves during infancy or early childhood though the condition is non progressive (that is, the condition does not worsen with the passage of time) and also non infectious.

In 90% of the cases, cerebral palsy symptoms can be seen in the affected person within the first two- three years of his/ her life.

cerebral palsy symptoms in children

cerebral palsy symptoms in children
A child affected by cerebral palsy is much slower than other kids of his age in showing developmental milestones like ability to hold things, crawling and walking.

symptoms of cerebral palsy

symptoms of cerebral palsy

In addition to that, one or more of the following cerebral palsy symptoms in children are enough to confirm the presence of this disorder:


1. Problems related with movement and posture:

Lack of control over movements of the body
Has an unorthodox muscle tone and is therefore unable to tighten or relax the muscles of his body as per his will
Stiffness of muscles or spasticity
While some people affected by cerebral palsy have underdeveloped muscles, some might even show overdeveloped muscles causing stiffness in the affected areas and sloppiness in moving that particular area

Slouches to one side while trying to sit down involuntarily

Crawls in an unusual manner
2. Other problems:


Has slower reflexes
Has difficulty in eating, sucking and swallowing
Skeletal deformities

Misaligned teeth
Lack of control over bladder and/or bowel movements

Poor digestion

Problems related to eyesight and hearing loss

The severity of any of these symptoms varies from one individual to another, according to the extent of damage caused to the brain. While some people are only mildly affected and can carry on with normal day to day activities with a little help, most people affected by cerebral palsy are completely dependent on others.

Not only that, the magnitude of the problem(s) faced by the affected person might also change though it has been confirmed that the problem is non degenerative in 98% of the cases.


Though there is little that can be done to reverse the damage caused to the brain and ‘cure? this disorder, there is a lot the caretakers can do to make life easier for affected people, only if they can detect the cerebral palsy symptoms in time!