In a regular body, it is the muscle tone regulation that helps maintain posture and also facilitates movement. When the muscle stretches, the neuromuscular system will also respond by automatically altering the muscle tone. This modulation is essential for the control of motion and also balance. Now, when there is a condition of spasticity, it results in an increased stretch reflex that intensifies with movement velocity. This results in inappropriate and excessive muscle activation, resulting in muscle hypertonia. So having spastic cerebral palsy, no doubt, can make things quite difficult for the patients. Luckily, with proper treatment and management, things can get better.
Understanding spasticity and its role in hypertonia
Spasticity has always been considered an essential neural contributor to muscle hypertonia in children with cerebral palsy. It is often treated with anti-spasticity medications. However, the treatment response varies greatly. It is because of the inability of clinical tests to differentiate between neural and non-neural contributions to stiffness.
Recently there has been a lot of research done on patients who have spastic cerebral palsy. Based on that, the doctors have evaluated that hypertonia is not regarded as multifactorial and that equating all resistance to passive motion with spasticity is erroneous. Spasticity is a primary contributor to this resistance, and when you talk about the extent of the contribution, it differs from individuals and muscles.
In this regard, the permanent goal must be adequately analyzing the hypertonia component. There have been a lot of developments recently in the spasticity assessment, which provides a solid methodological basis for developing a more rigorous definition of hypertonia for its constituents.
Conclusion
Spastic cerebral palsy comes with its own sets of other associated medical conditions. So you should visit a good doctor immediately to get started with treatment. Trishla Foundation has got experienced professionals who understand the complexity of cerebral palsy. They can devise a customized treatment plan that works well in your child’s favour. They will guarantee better recovery.