Position as a Cause of Deformity in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

The asymmetrical deformities in 20 children with various types of cerebral palsy were compared with 20 children without cerebral palsy who had the so-called squint baby syndrome (asymmetrical deformities of plagiocephaly, unilateral bat ear, facial and thoracic asymmetry, pelvic obliquity and apparent shortening of one leg). The squint baby syndrome and the windswept child syndrome in children with cerebral palsy may be stages of the same syndrome, and the deformities may be caused by the effect of gravity on an immobile growing child, rather than spasticity or muscle imbalance. Asymmetrical deformity should therefore be amenable to physiotherapeutic intervention, rather than trying to modify maturation of the damaged brain. As the windswept cerebral-palsied child can develop some of the most severe deformities seen in cerebral palsy, it is important that asymmetrical deformities should be prevented.