As children, you have probably learnt that paralysis is complete inability to move, sense, touch or control other bodily sensations. But little did we know that paralysis comes in many forms depending on the extent to which a person is immobilized. So, what is the difference between partial and total paralysis?

What is Total Paralysis?
Whether temporary or permanent, paralysis is the inability to move part of the body due to nerve damage. However it does not mean that people with total paralysis cannot move any parts of the body   they can still use their faces and necks. The extensive form of paralysis is typically referred to as quadriplegia, which involves diminished or absence of movement in the trunk, arms, legs, hands and feet. Some common symptoms of total paralysis are as follows:

Difficulty swallowing
Unable to control bowels and bladder
Pain anywhere in the body
No sensation below the site of injury
Difficulty breathing
What is partial paralysis?
A smaller portion of the body is affected by partial paralysis. One of the most common types of partial paralysis is Paraplegia that occurs below the waist. If affects both the legs, hips and other functions. Other forms of partial paralysis can be Monoplegia where a single area like one limb gets affected and Hemiplegia where parts of the body on the same side get affected. Some common symptoms of partial paralysis are as follows:

Inability to walk
Difficulty with sexual functioning
Pain below the site of injury
Unable to feel or move your legs or arms
How to Predict the type of paralysis?
The location of the injury or site of nerve damage will usually determine the type of paralysis. Damages in the cervical spinal cord almost inevitably lead to total paralysis associated with quadriplegia. The higher the injury is located, the more extensive the paralysis will be. Lower injuries commonly lead to partial paralysis. The prognosis is generally much better with this type of paralysis. With proper care and therapy, individuals may experience intermittent difficulties with movement and can regain.

Can paralysis be treated?
Whether it is total paralysis or partial paralysis, the positive prognosis is certainly possible, given the condition of the patient and other factors. Physical therapy involves teaching the brain and spinal cord to work around the damage and also aid neuron healing over time. Paralysis can be classified under a number of ways and the most basic classification is that of partial or complete paralysis. Talk to your doctor to understand what type of paralysis you have and adopt a positive outlook to help you towards recovery.

Partial Vs Complete Paralysis - Know The Difference!

Paralysis is a chronic medical disease characterized by a loss of muscle function in the body accompanied by sensory loss. The patient is unable to control the paralysed muscle consciously. Most common causes of injury are stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and head injury.  There are 4 types of paralysis and the effect may be complete or partial. The effect may be confined to only one space or multiple areas; and it may affect one or both sides of the body. Paralysis, on one hand, can be brief and may last for a short time; if not, it can be long term or permanent too. 

Physiotherapy is a health care profession wherein diseases are assessed, diagnosed and treated via exercise. It is also used to prevent a particular disability or disease. Science has yet to discover a cure for paralysis but the aim of physiotherapy is to make the patient as independent as possible. Depending on the affected area and the extent of paralysis, physiotherapy is started. Doctors recommend physiotherapy for paralysis for the following reasons

Physiotherapy should be started immediately because it improves blood circulation and relaxes the affected muscles. It can also inhibit the advancement of paralysis and develop muscle tone and the general well-being of the patient.
If the brain has suffered a severe external injury, physiotherapy assists in reducing the swelling and fastens the recovery process.
It aims at making the patient mobile and fully functioning.
Physiotherapy focuses on the maintenance of respiratory function.
Prevents pressure sores and contracture.
The physiotherapist sometimes works on unaffected muscles to compensate for the paralysed ones. Physiotherapy maintains and builds muscular strength in the affected areas. This action prevents deformation of limbs.
Physiotherapy training helps in managing paralyzed bladder and bowel movements.
Physiotherapy helps in building the morale of the patient and motivates the patient to be independent.
A side effect of Paralysis is post-traumatic depression that includes anxiety, denial hostility. The patient is often angry which may worsen his condition. Physiotherapy helps in controlling these feelings and gives the patient hope.
A physiotherapist suggests adaptive and modern equipment such as a splint, orthosis, braces as well as a cane for the disabled person depending on severity of the condition.

Paralysis - How Physiotherapy Can Be Helpful?

Facial paralysis is a loss of facial movement because of nerve damage. Your facial muscles may seem to hang or may become distinctly weak. It can happen on one or both sides of the face. Usual reasons for facial paralysis include:

Infection or swelling of the facial nerve
Head injury
Head or neck tumor
Stroke
Facial paralysis can increase all of a sudden or happen slowly over a span of months (mostly if one has a head or neck tumor). Based upon the cause, the loss of movement may keep going for a short or a long period of time. However, physiotherapy can prove to be very beneficial. Here is how:

1. Electrical stimulation: A few specialists suggest utilizing electrical stimulation and biofeedback as technique for physiotherapy for facial paralysis, yet different specialists believe that it does help in recovery. Talk with your specialist or advisor about whether electrical stimulation is ideal for you. Electrical stimulation uses little amounts of electricity to relieve the muscles in your face. This causes your muscles to jerk as though electrical signals from your brain reacted to them. During this time, your face is most incapacitated, which might be the main cause for you to enact these facial muscles.

2. Manual massage: Face rub can be performed in conjunction with other treatment choices. It is possible to enhance mental relief. Massage methods on the face include:

Effleurage
Finger or thumb massage
Tapping
Stroking
3. Kabat rehabilitation: Kabat recovery is a sort of engine control restoration procedure. During Kabat, specialists increase the compression of the weakened muscle by applying a global stretch and then massaging the solid segment. They encourage movement by verbal info and manual contact. While performing Kabat, there are namely three phases - the upper (temple and eyes), intermediate (nose), and lower (mouth). Before Kabat, ice compression needs to be performed to the particular regions, with a specific end goal to build its contractile power.

4. Icing: Ice helps in decreasing the aggravation surrounding the facial nerve, which might be in charge of the loss of nerve movement or conduction leading to facial paralysis. You can either use an ice pack or any cold compressor.

5. Facial exercises: These include doing essential activities with the distinctive muscle surrounding your face. In case you consult a specialist or physical advisor for your facial paralysis, he or she will suggest particular exercises for your level and stage of paralysis. If not, have a go at flexing the different muscles in your face through and through. Frown, raise your eyebrows, gradually flicker your eyes, and proceed down to your jaw.

Facial Paralysis - How Can Physiotherapy Help You Get Better?

A stroke or paralysis can occur when the blood supply to that part of your brain is curtailed or drastically reduced. Due to this, the brain is deprived of the essential oxygen and the nutrients, and within a few minutes the brain cells can undergo severe damage and die. It is often treated as a medical emergency and can cause complications for life if left unattended.

Symptoms:
With regards to a stroke, a quick and an immediate treatment can be the difference between life and death. It is very much mandatory to note the symptoms of stroke and to impart the treatment accordingly. Some of them can include:

Trouble with speaking: Your speech pattern gets affected, and you may have trouble talking.
Paralysis: When the oxygen is cut off, a part of the body can become numb thus rendering it lifeless.
Headache: A severe headache may occur that can make the body go into spasm. Dizziness and unconsciousness can follow it.
Walking and mobility: You would be unable to walk on your own, or there can be a huge difference in your walk pattern. Most of the times, you might not be having any control over your legs.
Risk Factors
There are many risk factors associated with stroke and paralysis. The most common one is undoubtedly overweight. Physical inactivity, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse can contribute equally to the occurrence of stroke. Cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and old age may also be risk factors. Paralysis can be the biggest drawback of stroke where one part of your body can be lost to movements. You might also lose control of your face or arm, and this can affect your walking steps. This can be a life changing factor and more than medication sometimes physical therapy heals the person to an extent.

Physiotherapy for Paralysis:
You can feel helpless and frustrated, and this can lead to depression. There are many ways by which physiotherapy can help you. The therapies are made in such a way that you can try to lead a normal life without any hindrance, and this depends on the nature of the paralysis you are undergoing. In most of the cases, a person can get back at least 60% to 70% of his/her mobility back though not completely. Also, current medicines have advanced that there is a possibility to get back the movement in the paralyzed areas.

One of the major challenges you will face is to relax as the physical feeling of helplessness can hamper your thoughts in the long run. Stay relaxed and always remember that you are not alone. Take the help of a family member or a friend. Be relaxed all the time and make a determined effort with physiotherapy exercises. Avoid the lifestyle which you had before and embark on a healthier lifestyle and make sure you watch your diet at all times. Try to indulge in your favorite pass time and over a period start your daily chores without the help of an aid. You can undergo the physiotherapy exercises for life as they can be positive even after the condition subsidies.

Paralysis & Stroke - How Physiotherapy Can Help?

The temporary inability to move one s own limbs or speak is known as paralysis. Paralysis is triggered by problems with the body s nervous system and affects the functioning of muscles all over the body. This condition can affect a single limb, the right or left side of the body, or the complete body. A paralytic attack is often caused by a stroke or damage in the nervous system. It can also be caused by exposure to radiation or toxins, autoimmune diseases, tumours and spinal cord trauma. Recovery from a paralytic attack depends on the causes and the extent of the injury that triggered it. With some types of paralysis, partial or even complete, recovery is possible.

Ayurveda is an alternative system of medicine that can be quite effective when it comes to treating paralysis. Ayurveda has negligible side effects and hence can be used to treat adults and children alike. This system of medication does not look only at the physical symptoms but also the mental and spiritual well-being of the patient as well. Some ways to treat paralysis with Ayurveda are as follows:

Vata-pacifying diet: Eat light meals that are easily digestible and pick warm foods over cold food. Avoid barley, rye and millet and include plenty of vegetables like asparagus, beets, okra and carrots in your diet. Also avoid bitter and pungent flavours, but pick food that is sweet, sour or salty to balance the body s vata.
Ayurvedic massage: Warm herbal oils are sued for Ayurvedic massages. These oils and the action of massaging them into the skin have a number of health benefits associated with it, including the treatment of paralytic attacks. Some Ayurvedic massages that could be beneficial to paralysed patients are abhyanga Ayurvedic massages, padabhyanga and pizhichil.
Medication: Along with lifestyle changes, Ayurvedic medication also plays a role in the treatment of paralysis. Some popular Ayurvedic remedies for paralysis are rasnadi quath, medicated castor oil, pippali mula, vatavidhwamsana rasa, chopcheeni churna, ashwagandha churna, brihat vatachintamani rasa, ashwagandha churna and rasaraja. While some of these medicines are to be taken orally, others may need to be administered through the nostrils as part of nasyam Ayurvedic treatments and others via an enema as part of sneha vasti. Drinking 20 40 ml of radish oil twice a day and a mixture of black pepper powder, sunti and honey is also said to be beneficial in treating paralysis. However, one must keep in mind that recovery from paralysis is very slow and hence patience is a must.

Paralysis - How Ayurveda Remedies Helps In Treating It!

CEREBRAL PALSY (CP) Group of disorder of movement and posture because of defects and disease of brain, the damage may occur in Uterus during gestation, during birth process, or during he first few years of life. Cerebral Palsy is most common motor disorder in infants and children and is the commonest cause of physical disabilities in childhood.

The word cerebral means having to do with the brain The word palsy means a weakness or problem in the way a person moves or how he positions his body. A Child with CP might have trouble controlling the muscles in his body. Normally, the brain tells the rest of the body exactly what to do and when to do it. But because CP affects the brain, depending on what part of the brain is affected, a child might not be able to walk, talk, eat, or play the same way most children do.

Classification of Cerebral Palsy:

There are five types of cerebral palsy: spastic, athetoid, ataxic, Hypotonic and mixed (combination of any), and further catagorised according to topographic distribution: Quadriplegia, Diplegia and Hemiplegia

Signs and Symptoms: 

The most common type of CP is spastic. A kid with spasticity can't relax his muscles or his muscles may be stiff. Athetoid CP affects a kid's ability to control his muscles. This means that the arms or legs that are affected by athetoid CP may flutter and move suddenly. A kid with ataxic CP has problems with balance and coordination. Some kids with CP use wheelchairs and others walk with the help of crutches or braces. In some cases, a kid's speech may be affected or he might not be able to speak at all. To learn more about CP, what causes it, and what living with CP is like, keep reading.

Cerebral palsy is very difficult and challenging to all sciences of healing. Allopathic system has no effective medicine to help except physiotherapy, surgical corrections, Botox or Botulinum Toxins and many psychological aids. But it has helped very little. In cerebral palsy, the motor area of cerebral cortex is damaged along with other areas of brain.

The commonest causes are birth injuries, obstetrical complications, high-grade fevers, and prolonged jaundice at birth, head injury, Chronic Infections to mother and genetically aberrations. So, the doctor's job is to repair the damaged area maximum possible. The exact extent of damage caused is difficult to assess, but CAT scan, MRI, PET, Psychological tests, I.Q. tests, clinical sensory motor developmental milestones and other tests can give rough idea about the damage.

The brain development normally completes within 5 years of age. CP child has damaged brain, so it develops very slowly. It is mostly; motor area damaged, so motor mile stone comes alter. Depending upon the severity of damage, the development will occur. Apart from the brain damage, the poor management and spasticity adds to orthopedic disabilities. These children have low resistant power, so gets frequent infections of URI (cold, cough and fever), diarrhea, malaria etc.

Now, How homeopathy can help these children?

Homeopathy helps these children in many ways. Firstly, it improves I.Q., which no other system can do. It improves neuromuscular abilities, so motor milestones start appearing faster. It improves in swallowing, neck handling, sitting, standing and walking. It improves in understanding of the child and calculating capacity, schooling capacity. 

Secondly, it completely stops recurrent infections. So deterioration of the child stops and regains immunity to fight diseases.

Thirdly it improves cognitive ability of children also helps to improve associate psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, conduct disorders and hyperkinesis.

It helps in improving flaccidity, spasticity of limb muscles, squint deglutition. (Hence, food taking) Fortunately, severely damaged children are statistically less. So, mostly children with mild and moderate damage are the best helped by homeopathy.

Cerebral Palsy - Types, Symptoms & Homeopathic Treatment Of It!

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