Cerebral palsy is a broad term which encompasses many different disorders of movement and posture. To describe particular types of movement disorders covered by the term, pediatricians, neurologists, and therapists use several classification systems and many labels.
To understand different types of cerebral palsy more clearly, you must first understand what professionals mean by muscle tone.
All children with cerebral palsy have damage to the area of the brain that controls muscle tone. As a result, they may have increased muscle tone, reduced muscle tone, or a combination of the two (fluctuating tone). Which parts of their bodies are affected by the abnormal muscle tone depends upon where the brain damage occurs.
There are three main types of cerebral palsy:
- Spastic Cerebral Palsy (stiff and difficult movement)
- Athetoid Cerebral Palsy (involuntary and uncontrolled movement)
- Ataxic Cerebral Palsy (disturbed sense of balance and depth perception)
There may be a combination of these types for any one person.