INDIVIDUALISED MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR CEREBRAL PALSY 

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a condition beyond just spastic muscles and abnormal postures and movements. It’s a lifelong disability of varying severity and complexity. As it is obvious in an individual suffering from cerebral palsy that apparent movement and postural disorders are often accompanied by disarrays of: 

  • sensation, 
  • perception,  
  • cognition, 
  • communication, 
  • behavior, 
  • epilepsy, and 
  • musculoskeletal problems  

So, it’s multi-faceted and needs a multidisciplinary approach to keep an eye and manage all of the factors that affect a child. It requires: 

  • planning,  
  • organization,  
  • perspective,  
  • adaptation and  
  • lots of inspiration.  

An individualized, organized and comprehensive plan is needed and will accomplish a functioning citizen and a human being. 

Spasticity of muscles in CP can affect multiple/single or anybody region with different and varying severity and combinations. It can affect: 

  • eye muscles,  
  • speech muscles, 
  • swallowing and muscles controlling urine and stools,  
  • face,  
  • shoulders, neck upper and lower limbs and back muscles.  

As a result, in general CP patient can have: 

  • strabismus or squint,  
  • drooling,  
  • difficulty in speech and swallowing,  
  • constipation & urinary difficulties, 
  • abnormal postures and movements of neck, shoulders, back, upper and lower limbs 

Again, to emphasize that all these can be in different combinations and severities. Keeping in view the diversity of the situation in cerebral pals; it is important and needful to have a separate and individualized comprehensive approach of management for each patient to get optimum results and outcome. 

At POACC, we have been successful to launch a concept of “INDIVIDUALISED MANAGEMENT PLAN (IMP)” for CP affected individual. For every patient IMP is created by a team of experts from different clinical and other specialties including the patient himself and his/her caretakers. 

These are the main components of IMP: 

  1. ASSESSMENTS with assessment tools 
  • Physical 
  • Functional eating and drinking assessment 
  • Sensation 
  • Pain 
  • Nutritional assessment 
  • Gross motor and mobility assessment 
  • Fine motor and upper limb assessment 
  • Speech and language assessment 
  • Physiotherapy specific assessment 
  • Occupational therapy assessment 
  1. GOALS :Time specific and oriented 
  2. INTERVENTIONS 
  • Stretch interventions 
  • Strengthening interventions 
  • Electrical stimulations 
  • Medical and surgical interventions 
  • Nutritional interventions 
  • Upper limb specific interventions 
  • Lower limb specific interventions 
  • Other body regions interventions 
  • Speech/language and oral motor interventions. 

Completion of IMP gives the base line to start managing CP patient by a team of different specialists. IMP for each patient is regularly assessed and updated with new goals till patient has become functional to the optimum level which is decided among the managing team, care takers and the patient. 

To get an overview of clinical picture of cerebral palsy, visit Cplink Pakistan

To enroll and register your loved one for IMP, please contact our practice coordinator