Management for Cerebral Palsy

Over time, the approach to Cerebral Palsy management has shifted away from narrow attempts to fix individual physical problems – such as spasticity in a particular limb – to making such treatments part of a larger goal of maximizing the person's independence and community engagement.:886 However, the evidence base for the effectiveness of intervention programs reflecting this philososphy has not yet caught up: effective interventions for body structures and functions have a strong evidence base, but evidence is lacking for effective interventions targeted toward participation, environment, or personal factors. There is also no good evidence to show that an intervention that is effective at the body-specific level will result in an improvement at the activity level, or vice versa.Although such cross-over benefit might happen, not enough high-quality studies have been done to demonstrate it.
Treatment of cerebral palsy is a lifelong process focused on the management of associated conditions. It tries to allow healthy development on all levels. The brain, up to about the age of 8, is not set and has the ability to reroute many signal paths that may have been affected by the initial trauma; the earlier it has help in doing this the more successful it will be.
The treatments with the best evidence are medications , therapy (bimanual training, casting,constraint-induced movement therapy, context-focused therapy, fitness training, goal-directed training, hip surveillance, home programmes, occupational therapy after botulinum toxin, pressure care) and surgery
Various forms of therapy are available to people living with cerebral palsy as well as caregivers and parents. Treatment may include one or more of the following: physical therapy; occupational therapy; speech therapy; water therapy; drugs to control seizures, alleviate pain, or relax muscle spasms ; surgery to correct anatomical abnormalities or release tight muscles; braces and other orthotic devices; rolling walkers; and communication aids such as computers with attached voice synthesisers.

However, there is only some benefit from therapy. Treatment is usually symptomatic and focuses on helping the person to develop as many motor skills as possible or to learn how to compensate for the lack of them. Non-speaking people with CP are often successful availing themselves of augmentative and alternative communication.