His dream is to run. There is no cure for cerebral palsy, which afflicts one of every 400 to 800 children born in this country. About 75 percent of the 750,000 U.S. residents with cerebral palsy suffer from chronic spasticity, which interferes with everything from standing to smiling. Spasticity originates when areas of the brain or spinal cord that produce descending inhibitory impulses are damaged. Sensory signals from receptors escalate uncontrollably while stretch reflexes are deprived of normal negative modulation.
Chronic spasticity contorts young bodies.
It can lead to musculoskeletal deformities. To relieve the symptoms, surgeons sometimes cut nerve fibers near the spinal cord that are involved in hyper-excitable reflex pathways. However, muscle flacidity occasionally produced by such rhizotomies can be as debilitating as the spasticity they are intended to relieve. This page last updated January 15, 1998. Copyright UC Regents.