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Cerebral Palsy
What is Cerbal Palsy?
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move, maintain balance and posture.
CP is a neurological disorder, and results from injuries that affect the motor functions in the brain. In many cases the injury occurs during the birth of premature babies or shortly afterwards if the baby experiences brain bleeding in the white matter of the brain. However injuries to the brain can also happen during pregnancy and in early childhood.
The white matter (tissue) of the brain conducts electrical signals to the muscles and connects all the grey matter (brain cells) to each other. If there is something wrong with the white matter then the effective brain signals cannot be transmitted correctly to the muscles.
How can HBOt treat patients with CP?
HBOT delivers 100% oxygen to the body with increased pressure thereby saturating the plasma with oxygen which then oxygenates the whole body. Increasing the oxygen levels in patients with CP is important as it enhances vascular activity, gross motor function and nerve cell growth.
Research has shown that HBOT can increase alertness and awareness, use of hands and fingers, regulate tone, improve cognition and speech, enhance oral motor function when eating and balance. Studies have shown that a patient with CP should carry out block of 40 HBOT sessions have a few weeks break and then do another block of 40 to see maximum results.