23. Cerebral palsy (CP) refeers to a complex non progressive condition caused by damage to brain within first 3 years of life that produces a disability because of muscular incoordination and weakness. The word "cerebral" refers to brain and "palsy" to a disorder of movement or posture.

Cerebral palsy involves various types of impairements in gross and fine motor coordination. Most common types of cerebral palsy are:

* spastic (most prevalent, present in 50% of CP cases):
It is characterised by loss of voluntary muscle control. Spasticity results from the damage to the part of the brain known as cerebrum.

*Choreo-athetoid: It involves the presence of abrupt, involuntary movements of the boy. in this type of cerebral palsy, the diffuiculty is of controlling movement and maintaining one's posture. This results from damage to basal ganglia.

*mixed: As the name implies, the mixed type cerebral palsy includes both spastic and athetoid forms. For example, in a child with mixed type of cerebral palsy, arms may be rigid while legs may be spastic or the same child may become suddenly rigid or floppy at different times.