Cerebral palsy is neither progressive or communicable. It is also not curable, although education, therapy and applied technology can help people with cerebral palsy lead productive lives. The causes of cerebral palsy include illness during pregnancy, premature delivery or lack of oxygen to the baby. Head injuries can also lead to the less common acquired cerebral palsy. Between 500,000 and 700,000 Americans have some degree of cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy is characterized by an inability to fully control motor function.
Medical Considerations for Therapeutic Riding People with cerebral palsy have difficulty coordinating and producing purposeful, functional movements. Some people have too much muscle tone, such as those with spasticity. Their muscles hold their limbs in rather stiff postures and it is difficult to relax these muscles. Thus, the rider cannot move his limbs easily except in the direction the spastic muscles pull. Other types of tone abnormalities include fluctuating tone, as seen in athetoid cerebral palsy and hypotonia, or too little tone.