Takenaga !

Hallie Takenaga

Professor Brody

ENGL 301, M/W 2:30-3:45

15 May 2019

Peering Through the Eyes of the Patient

Take a step back and take some time to peer into the lens of the past to look at the

progression of a normal life, from one’s first steps, interaction with family transitioning into

school, making friends, participating in activities, finding a job, discovering love, and overall,

take notice to how life nowadays is brimming with convenience. Convenience as in the ease of

carrying on through life with the growth of technological discoveries and its uses, the growth of

knowledge within the medical field and other aspects of study, as well as the growth of

communication. This ease, of course, does not define every person’s life, everyone has their own

story of struggle and hardships; however, many individuals, especially in the United States, live

life in a current state of ease that can easily be taken for granted. Now, imagine life stuck in an

endless winter blizzard, with harsh cold winds and thick powdered snow in which prickles the

skin, stiffens the muscles, and hinders movement. Think about trudging through the snow, an

endless path of snow with slow perpetual faltering steps and aching numbed joints that prohibit

typical motor functions and deteriorate standards of a fluid lifestyle. This more or less

figuratively describes the lifelong journey of a child born with cerebral palsy, a deep-rooted

incurable disorder that results from a lesion, damaged tissue, in the developing brain that controls

muscle movement.
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Cerebral palsy is by far the most commonly occurring physical disability in childhood

with incidental rates soaring at between 2 to 4 per 1000 live births (Himmelmann et al., 2011).

These children struggle with an array of associated impairments ranging from physical

functioning to intellectual ability to communicate depending on the level of severity (Colver &

Pharoah, 2014). Technically, cerebral palsy is mainly a posture disorder that is characterized by

complications dealing with movement and coordination due to differing variations of muscle

tone resulting in the limbs being overly stiff or floppy in which can also lead to abnormal and

involuntary movements. The disorder is often developed before birth and is categorized by

distinct types such as quadriplegia in which both arms, legs, and face are affected, diplegia in

which both legs are affected, or hemiplegia in which one arm and one leg are affected.

Furthermore, these categories also fall into separate forms such as spastic in which

consists of stiff muscles and jerky movements, dyskinetic in which consists of involuntary

movements, and ataxic in which consists of instability and jagged movements that affects both

depth and balance perception.

The most common form of cerebral palsy is the bilateral spastic type which includes

those of the quadriplegia and diplegia category who compromise half the diagnosed population.

The unilateral spastic type which construes the hemiplegia category compromises one third of

the diagnosed population, and the remaining group consists of the least common types such as

dyskinetic and ataxic cerebral palsy (Himmelmann et al., 2011). Levels of severity are

determined by three classification, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and communication in

which can range from being able to be able to perform simple everyday tasks such as walking,

jumping, or communicating with slight difficulty, to requiring a wheelchair or physical assistance

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to perform such tasks. Unfortunately, 30-50% of children with cerebral palsy can be associated

with cognitive impairments as characterized by learning difficulties, lack of speech proficiency,

and decision making skills amongst others (“Cognitive Impairment,” n.d.). Furthermore, other

major impairments include sensory impairments for both vision and hearing, seizures, chest

infections, constipation, and other side-effects (Colver & Pharoah, 2014). Thus, cerebral palsy is

a devastating disability in which rips away an individual’s ability to perform normal functions of

everyday life, which not only limits one’s ultimate life potential but also affects one’s state of

mind.

Though cerebral palsy has no cure, there is no further progression of the disorder after the

initial symptoms have been diagnosed. Past experiments have been conducted on primary care

effectiveness for cerebral palsy patients through the use of drugs, surgery, and therapies applied

over previous decades in which resulted in weak and broken resolutions (Colver & Pharoah,

2014). Specifically, each applied approach provided little to no sustainability or improvement.

However, one experiment conducted in 2008 presented a beneficial treatment in which tested the

effectiveness of osteopathic techniques, which involves the manual manipulation of bones,

muscles, and joints, against acupuncture. As a result, patients with mild to severe spastic

cerebral palsy presented a significant improvement in their mobility with an increased gross

motor function measurement (Duncan et al., 2008). Therefore, implementations of osteopathic

treatment to cerebral palsy patients can prove to be a viable solution to help ease the pain and

thereby improve functional abilities.

The term osteopath is not one that is often heard of due to only 11% of medical students

being Doctor of Osteopathy, D.O., graduates. This is rather problematic and as a source of
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relevance to patients who are diagnosed with cerebral palsy, awareness of osteopathy should be

more represented. Within the United States, there are two types of licensed physicians,

osteopathic physicians (D.O.s) and allopathic physicians (M.D.s) both of which receive

extensive education and are equally qualified to diagnose patients, treat illnesses, and provide

care. However, D.O.s receive additional training in Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT)

which utilizes a wide array of therapeutic techniques to manipulate the body’s healing functions

to support homeostasis within the body. Osteopathic medicine provides treatment for a large

spectrum of “musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal clinical conditions” that can be seen as

similar to a chiropractor except for the fact that osteopaths attend to a broader range of disorders

(Mcglone et al., 2017). In comparison to allopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians are less

likely to prescribe medication and instead implements more holistic and natural techniques in

which can be a better alternative for younger patients (Licciardone, 2015). Additionally, touch

plays a fundamental role within OMT in which it initiates a sensation of leisure to its patients,

thus helping soothe and relieve pain (Mcglone et al., 2017).

Specialized techniques such as cranial osteopathy is a more subtle form of osteopathic

treatment that applies very gentle pressure to release stresses from the body. While it can involve

the head, it can be applied to the tailbone, spine, and all parts of the body. Similarly, myofascial

release applies gentle pressure to myofascial connective tissue restrictions which comprises of

tension in connective tissue, scar tissue, and injured areas to help relax contracted muscles,

improve lymphatic circulation, to eliminate pain, and to restore motion. Both these techniques

can help provide adequate results to cerebral palsy patients as represented by the experiment

mentioned above. Thus, OMT can serve as an alternative approach to patients who have cerebral
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palsy in order to provide a viable gentle and more wholesome approach that can supply ample

care in any stage of life even infancy.

Overall, children who suffer greatly from the deteriorating effects of cerebral palsy do not

acquire the same ease others are granted with upon entering the world, and it is through this sad

and cruel fate that children never get to experience a normal life. This lifestyle constitutes of a

reliance on others and constant care with limited independence and chance to experience playing

a sport or participating in regular activities. Though not progressive, millions of children

diagnosed with this disorder are left with permanent and often devastating disabilities to both

physical and at times mental function. Overall, people tend to take life and the opportunities

presented for granted, and not everyone has the fortune to live or enjoy life the way one may

aspire to; therefore, it is important to remind oneself to be grateful for all that has been given.
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References

Colver, Fairhurst, & Pharoah. (2014). Cerebral palsy. The Lancet, 383(9924), 1240-1249.

Duncan, B., Mcdonough-Means, S., Worden, K., Schnyer, R., Andrews, J., & Meaney, F.

(2008). Effectiveness of osteopathy in the cranial field and myofascial release versus

acupuncture as complementary treatment for children with spastic cerebral palsy:

A pilot study. The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 108(10), 559-70.

Himmelmann, K., Ahlin, K., Jacobsson, B., Cans, C., & Thorsen, P. (2011). Risk factors for

cerebral palsy in children born at term. Acta Obstetricia Et Gynecologica

Scandinavica, 90(10), 1070-81.

Licciardone, J. (2015). A National Study of Primary Care Provided by Osteopathic

Physicians. The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 115(12), 704-13.

Mcglone, Cerritelli, Walker, & Esteves. (2017). The role of gentle touch in perinatal

osteopathic manual therapy. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 72, 1-9.