Diagnosis To Device

In general, hemiplegia is a type of unilateral cerebral palsy that causes paralysis or spasticity on only one side of the body. It’s due to an injury to the spinal cord or the brain. The common signs of hemiplegia are poor muscle control, muscle stiffness, and weakness.

Spastic diplegia (or diparesis) is a subtype of spastic cerebral palsy in which the legs are the most affected limbs. People with spastic diplegia often have a “scissor walk,” characterized by the knees turning inward/crossing. This is due to tightness in the hip and leg muscles.

Quadriplegia is the most severe form of cerebral palsy because it affects so many areas of the body. Children with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy usually cannot walk, and they are more likely to have multiple associated conditions, like speech difficulties or seizures.

Dyskinetic or athetoid cerebral palsy is a subtype of cerebral palsy that is caused by a brain injury that occurs during late pregnancy or the early birth period. Dyskinetic cerebral palsy is marked by abnormal posturing, tone, and involuntary movements.

Kids with ataxic cerebral palsy have trouble with balance and coordination. They may walk with their legs farther apart than other kids and have a hard time with activities that use small hand movements, like writing.

Floppy muscles resulting in issues with voluntary movement

An ischaemic stroke happens when a blockage cuts off the blood supply to part of your brain, killing brain cells. Damage to brain cells can affect how the body works. It can also change how you think and feel.Stroke that occurs on the left side of the brain leads to neurological impairment on the right side of the body. Studies have indicated left-sided stroke may be more easily recognized than right-sided stroke. Left-sided strokes might be referred more frequently because they lead to clear symptoms, such as aphasia, whereas right-sided strokes may lead to less explicit symptoms, such as hemineglect or spatial disorientation.

What is transient ischemic attack (TIA)? A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a stroke that lasts only a few minutes. It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is briefly interrupted. TIA symptoms, which usually occur suddenly, are similar to those of stroke but do not last as long.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of potential symptoms, including problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance. It’s a lifelong condition that can sometimes cause serious disability, although it can occasionally be mild. Deconditioning of muscles results from lack of use. Often in MS, due to fatigue, pain, imbalance, or other symptoms, a person’s overall activity level is reduced. Lack of activity will cause muscles to become weak. For this type of weakness, progressive resistive exercise with weights can be very effective. People suffering from spasticity associated with MS may also present with Hypertonicity (increased muscle tone), which can lead to muscle stiffness, rigid joints and bladder dysfunction.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder characterized by the progressive loss of muscle. It is a multi-systemic condition, affecting many parts of the body, which results in deterioration of the skeletal, heart, and lung muscles. Duchenne is caused by a change in the dystrophin gene. DMD is the most common childhood onset form of muscular dystrophy and affects males almost exclusively. The birth prevalence is estimated to be 1 in every 3,500 live male births. Age of onset is usually between 3 and 5 years of age.

Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is an X-linked recessive disorder due to mutation in the dystrophin gene that results in progressive muscle degeneration and proximal muscle weakness. This condition is less common and less severe than Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is characterized by progressive muscle weakness involving the face, scapular stabilizers, upper arm, lower leg (peroneal muscles), and hip girdle [Wang & Tawil 2016]. Asymmetry of facial, limb, and shoulder weakness is common [Kilmer et al 1995]. Over time, muscle weakness decreases mobility, making everyday tasks difficult.

Myotonic dystrophy is a genetic condition that causes progressive muscle weakness and wasting. Myotonic dystrophy can affect muscles of movement and often affects the electrical conduction system of the heart, breathing and swallowing muscles, bowels, lens of the eye and brain. People with this disorder often have prolonged muscle contractions (myotonia) and are not able to relax certain muscles after use.

Monoplegia is a type of paralysis that impacts one limb, such as an arm or leg on one side of your body. This happens when damage to a part of the nervous system disrupts nerve signaling to the muscles in the affected limb. Monoplegia can affect the upper or lower body, either one arm or one leg.

Hemiplegia is one-sided muscle paralysis or weakness. It’s usually a symptom of a brain-related issue or condition. It can affect the face, arm and leg, and sometimes it affects all three.

Paraplegia is a term used to describe the inability to voluntarily move the lower parts of the body. The areas of impaired mobility usually include the toes, feet, legs, and may or may not include the abdomen. Picture: A person with a complete T12 level of injury is paralyzed from the waist down.

Quadriplegia is a symptom of paralysis that affects all a person’s limbs and body from the neck down. The most common cause of quadriplegia is an injury to the spinal cord in your neck, but it can also happen with medical conditions.

A meningocele is a sac that pushes through the gap in the spine.

Myelomeningocele is the most severe form of spina bifida. A portion of the spinal cord or nerves are exposed in a sac through an opening in the spine that may or may not be covered by the meninges. The opening can be closed surgically while the baby is in utero or shortly after the baby is born. Myelomeningocele can cause symptoms that include: Problems moving parts of the body below the opening in the back. Lack of sensation in their legs and feet. Poor or no bowel and bladder control.

Angelman syndrome is a genetic disorder. It causes delayed development, problems with speech and balance, intellectual disability, and, sometimes, seizures. People with Angelman syndrome often smile and laugh frequently, and have happy, excitable personalities.

Friedreich ataxia (FA) is a rare inherited disease that causes progressive damage to your nervous system and movement problems. Nerve fibers in your spinal cord and peripheral nerves degenerate, becoming thinner.

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic or heritable disease in which bones fracture (break) easily, often with no obvious cause or minimal injury. OI is also known as brittle bone disease, and the symptoms can range from mild with only a few fractures to severe with many medical complications.

Winchester syndrome is characterized most frequently by short stature, wearing down of bone and tissue, dark skin patches, and coarse facial features. The main feature of this syndrome is short stature due to changes in the vertebrae of the backbone and long bones of the limbs that get worse over time (degenerative). It has been reported that several affected individuals have lived to middle age; however, the disease is progressive and mobility will become limited towards the end of life.

McCune-Albright syndrome is a genetic condition that affects bone growth, skin pigmentation and the body’s hormone balance. Bone abnormalities such as easily broken bones, and premature sexual maturity are typical signs of the condition. Symptoms range in severity. It’s important to keep in mind that MAS/FD is extremely variable with a wide spectrum of involvement (some children with MAS/FD go through life with very few medical issues while others have very serious medical complications).

Ataxia-Telangiectasia is a rare inherited disorder that affects the nervous system, immune system, and other body systems. This disorder is characterized by progressive difficulty with coordinating movements (ataxia) beginning in early childhood, usually before age 5. The movement problems typically cause people to require wheelchair assistance by adolescence.

Leukodystrophies are a group of rare, genetic disorders that affect the white matter of the brain. The word leukodystrophy comes from leuko, which means white, and dystrophy, which means imperfect growth. Leukodystrophies are characterized by this abnormal growth of white matter in the brain. Most children within the infantile form die by age 5. Symptoms of the juvenile form progress with death occurring 10 to 20 years following onset. People affected by the adult form typically die within six to 14 years following onset of symptoms. Progressive loss may appear in muscle tone, balance and mobility.

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body). Most often, polio survivors start to experience gradual weakening in muscles that were previously affected by the polio infection. Some people may have minor symptoms while others develop visible muscle weakness and atrophy (wasting away).

Related Pages. Arthritis means inflammation or swelling of one or more joints. It describes more than 100 conditions that affect the joints, tissues around the joint, and other connective tissues. Specific symptoms vary depending on the type of arthritis, but usually include joint pain and stiffness.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the joints and ligaments of the spine. It may also affect peripheral joints like the knees, ankles, and hips. Normally, the joints and ligaments in the spine help us move and bend.

Cerebrovascular disease refers to a group of conditions that affect blood flow and the blood vessels in the brain. Problems with blood flow may occur from blood vessels narrowing (stenosis), clot formation (thrombosis), artery blockage (embolism), or blood vessel rupture (hemorrhage).

Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Symptoms usually begin gradually and worsen over time. As the disease progresses, people may have difficulty walking and talking.

ALS is a type of motor neuron disease. As motor neurons degenerate and die, they stop sending messages to the muscles, which causes the muscles to weaken, start to twitch (fasciculations), and waste away (atrophy). Eventually, the brain loses its ability to initiate and control voluntary movements.

Motor neurone disease (MND) is the name for a group of diseases. These diseases affect nerves known as motor nerves, or motor neurons. In MND, these neurons degenerate and die. This causes the muscles to become weaker and weaker. This eventually leads to paralysis.

With diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a rare neurological disorder that affects body movements, walking and balance, and eye movements. PSP is caused by damage to nerve cells in areas of the brain that control thinking and body movements. Clinical deficits in PSP are numerous, involve the entire neuraxis, and present as several discrete phenotypes. They center on rigidity, bradykinesia, postural instability, gait freezing, supranuclear ocular motor impairment, dysarthria, dysphagia, incontinence, sleep disorders, frontal cognitive dysfunction, and a variety of behavioral changes.

Dejerine-Sottas syndrome (DSS) is an inherited neurological condition that gradually affects the ability to move. Peripheral nerves are the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord. These nerves become enlarged or thickened leading to muscle weakness. It is generally presumed that clinical course is severe, leading to wheelchair dependency at an early age.

Morquio syndrome is a rare genetic condition that affects a child’s bones and spine, organs, and physical abilities. Children with this condition are missing or don’t produce enough of the enzymes that break down sugar chains naturally produced in the body. Short stature, with a very short torso. Abnormal bone and spine development, including severe scoliosis. Bell-shaped chest with ribs flared out at the bottom. The outlook for a person with Morquio syndrome can depend on the severity of their symptoms. Evidence suggests that people with severe symptoms may only live until late childhood or adolescence. People with milder symptoms generally live into adulthood. However, their life expectancy may be lower.

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD) is a rare, progressive, and degenerative central nervous system disorder that deteriorates coordination, motor abilities, and cognitive function. atients with classic Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (such as that caused by PLP1 gene duplications) can live into the fifth or sixth decade of life. Patients with a predominantly spastic paraplegia phenotype have a normal life span.

Sandhoff disease is a rare, inherited disease that progressively destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It occurs when fatty materials called lipids accumulate in brain cells (and in other parts of the body), forcing them to malfunction and die. Characteristic features include speech difficulties, loss of cognitive function (dementia), seizures, and loss of muscle coordination (ataxia). Adult Sandhoff disease is characterized by problems with movement and psychiatric problems.

Krabbe disease is a rare, inherited metabolic disorder in which harmful amounts of lipids (fatty materials such as oils and waxes) build up in various cells and tissues in the body and destroy brain cells. Krabbe disease is a progressive disease, meaning that the disease gets worse, and the child loses the ability to move, see, hear, and eat. Eventually they lose their ability to breathe, which results in death. When symptoms appear early in life, the disease is more severe and progresses much more rapidly. The symptoms of
Krabbe disease are different depending on the age symptoms begin. In general, the following symptoms are seen in the majority of patients; poor coordination, difficulty moving & muscle tone changes (muscles become stiff), vision & hearing loss, mental & physical development slow-down, breathing difficulties, reflu, vomiting, constipation & difficulty with chewing & swallowing.

Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain characterized by repeated seizures. A seizure is usually defined as a sudden alteration of behavior due to a temporary change in the electrical functioning of the brain. Normally, the brain continuously generates tiny electrical impulses in an orderly pattern.

What is a seizure? Seizures are caused by rapid and uncoordinated electrical firing in the brain. This can cause temporary abnormalities in behaviours, movements (such as alternating stiffening and jerking of the arms and legs), sensations or a loss of consciousness or altered consciousness level.

A person who has had a limb amputated.

Pelvic obliquity is the misalignment of the pelvis, typically where one hip is higher than the other. This condition can lead to abnormal postures due to the spine compressing and becoming misaligned to compensate for any misalignment.

A pelvic rotation is when an individual presents with one hip further forward in the seat, with one anterior superior iliac spine more forward than the other. This can arise from how an individual sleeps (side lying), dominant side compensatory postures, through to daily activities such as operating a powerchair.

Posterior pelvic tilt is a condition in which the front of the pelvis rises and the back of the pelvis drops, while the pelvis rotates upwards.

Anterior Pelvic tilt is the opposte of Posterior pelvic tilt, the pelvis tilts forward. Tightening or inbalance of the hip flexor muscles to the weakening of the hamstring muscles & tightening of the sacrospinalis muscles. For wheelchair users, sometimes Anterior Pelvic Tilt develops during the ambulatory stage as a compensatory posture to increase stability & movement or it may arise from instability in the wheelchair seat.

Tight hamstrings in seating, reduce the ability of the femur to achieve a 90 deg. angle in relation to the back.

Internal rotation of the femur occurs any time you move your thigh bone inward. When the activating muscles involved become shortened, it can lead to more severe inward rotation. Severe internal Fermural rotation can lead to subluxation of the hip, & stress on the knees & ankles.

External rotation of the hip is when the thigh and knee rotate outward, away from the body. An excessive femoral retroversion can place stress on hip and knee joints, often leading to joint pain and abnormal wear.

Femoral-on-pelvic hip adduction occurs as the femur moves toward, or across, the midline relative to a fixed pelvis. Often found in conjunction with external femural rotation.

Hip abduction is the movement of the leg away from the midline of the body. Often found in conjunction with internal fmural rotation.

Extension thrust is the extending of the legs. With spastic quadriplegia, persons can show global pattern of extension. During our seating assessments of many “high needs” users we found that EXTENSION THRUST can apply both to clients with overall High tone or Low tone but mostly was caused by only two reasons:
Discomfort – Most importantly & commonly we found that tightened hamstrings combined with seating which incorporated a traditional style high pre-ischial shelf was the cause of great discomfort to the user. It seemed counter-intuitive, but enabling the leg or legs to be positioned lower to relieve the hamstring muscles combined with allowing the feet to move back on the footplate or using 90 degree legrest hangers, the clients sat for much longer periods without extending out of the seat or showing signs of discomfort. Sometimes repositioning the legs laterally to accommodate tightened abductor muscles or adductor muscles e.g. windswept postures, greatly aided in the comfort to the user for long term sitting. Undiscovered hip subluxation or dislocation also causes a lot of pain & discomfort to the user & the client often will extend or twist in their seating to relieve the pain. Reducing any pressure in this area & reducing the tension on the hip belt can quickly help the client to relax.
Mood – We all have bad days where we want to vent our feelings & frustrations. As these feelings go well beyond how they feel about their seat, this type of extension thrust will not be fixed by well configured & comfortable seating although good postural seating may reduce the frustrations making the client happier overall.

Flexion is the most common knee deformity in patients with cerebral palsy and frequently occurs in ambulatory children. lexion at the hip (which causes the leg to lift upwards when lying or the body to lean forwards in standing) Flexion at the knees (causing changes in a person’s standing posture).

Hypertonia is a condition in which there is too much muscle tone. For instance, arms or legs are stiff and hard to move. Muscle tone is controlled by signals that travel from the brain to the nerves and tell the muscle to contract.

Low muscle tone is used to describe muscles that are floppy. It is also referred to as hypotonia. Individuals with low muscle tone may have increased flexibility, poor posture and get tired easily.

Ataxia describes poor muscle control that causes clumsy voluntary movements. It may cause difficulty with walking and balance, hand coordination, speech and swallowing, and eye movements.

The asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR) is a primitive reflex found in newborn humans that normally vanishes around 6 months of age. Prolonged ATNR can be associated with developmental delays. It becomes hard for them to cross the midline of their bodies, for example, and they can’t handle objects with both hands. In other instances, the child can’t identify which hand or leg to use, causing him to hesitate in movements.

Kyphosis is an exaggerated, forward rounding of the upper back. In older people, kyphosis is often due to weakness in the spinal bones that causes them to compress or crack. Other types of kyphosis can appear in infants or teens due to malformation of the spine or wedging of the spinal bones over time.

A curving inward of the lower back. Some lordosis is normal. Too much is referred to as sway-back. It may be inherited or caused by conditions such as arthritis, muscular dystrophy and dwarfism. Some lordosis is normal. Too much is referred to as sway-back. It may be inherited or caused by conditions such as arthritis, muscular dystrophy and dwarfism. Lordosis causes an unusually large, inward arch on the lower back, just above the buttocks. The condition may cause lower back pain.

Scoliosis is a lateral curvature of the spine. Everyone has normal curves in the spine, and when looked at from behind, the spine appears straight. However, children and teens with scoliosis have an abnormal sideways S-shaped or C-shaped curve of the spine.

Instability & fear of falling in a wheelchair can adversely impact posture.

Your Rib-Hip Connection is the distance between your ribcage and your pelvis, or from your lower ribs to your hip bones. Under normal conditions, there is no iliocostal contact due to enough distance between the lower ribs and the iliac crest.

A subluxation is an incomplete or partial dislocation of a joint or organ. Dislocation is when the bones in a joint are pushed out of their normal place. Individuals who have been in a wheelchair most of their lives may not have fully developed hip sockest due to the lack of load & movement on the joint, hence with increased muscle tone, the chances of subluxation or dislocation are higher.

Spinal fusion is surgery to connect two or more bones in any part of the spine. Connecting them prevents movement between them. Preventing movement helps to prevent pain. During spinal fusion, a surgeon places bone or a bonelike material in the space between two spinal bones. This is done to eliminate painful motion or to restore stability to the spine.

Spasticity is a form of hypertonia, or increased muscle tone. This results in stiff muscles which can make movement difficult or even impossible. The Flexor & Extensor muscles become unbalanced.

Near drowning occurs when water enters your lungs and you stop breathing. Your brain does not get the oxygen it needs, and major organ systems may begin to shut down.