TY - JOUR T1 - Cerebral palsy: the whys and hows JF - Archives of disease in childhood - Education & practice edition JO - Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed SP - 122 LP - 131 DO - 10.1136/edpract-2011-300593 VL - 97 IS - 4 AU - Charlie Fairhurst Y1 - 2012/08/01 UR - http://ep.bmj.com/content/97/4/122.abstract N2 - The descriptive term of cerebral palsy encompasses the largest group of childhood movement disorders. Severity and pattern of clinical involvement varies widely dependent on the area of the central nervous system compromised. A multidisciplinary team approach is vital for all the aspects of management to improve function and minimise disability. From a medical viewpoint, there are two pronged approaches. First a focus on developmental and clinical comorbidities such as communication, behaviour, epilepsy, feeding problems, gastro-oesophageal reflux and infections; and second on specifics of muscle tone, motor control and posture. With regards to the latter, there is an increasing number of available treatments including oral antispasticity and antidystonic medications, injectable botulinum toxin, multilevel orthopaedic and neurosurgical options and a variety of complementary and alternative therapies. ER -