Types of Cerebral Palsy

Types of Cerebral Palsy

Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common type of cerebral palsy.

  • The muscles of people with spastic cerebral palsy feel stiff and their movements may look stiff and jerky. Spasticity is a form of hypertonia, or increased muscle tone. This results in stiff muscles which can make movement difficult or even impossible.

Athetoid cerebral palsy or dyskinetic cerebral palsy

  • This is sometimes abbreviated ADCP and is a type of cerebral palsy that is primarily associated with damage, like other forms of CP, to the basal ganglia in the form of lesions that occur during brain development due to bilirubin encephalopathy and hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.

Ataxic cerebral palsy

  • This is the least common type of the disorder, affecting around 5 to 10% of all people with CP. Ataxic CP is derived from the word “ataxia,” meaning the lack of coordination and order. Along with tremors, children with ataxic CP may also have speech and oral problems.

Hypertonia is a term sometimes used synonymously with spasticity and rigidity in the literature surrounding damage to the central nervous system, namely upper motor neuron lesions. Hypertonia in infants is a condition characterised by rigid muscles, difficulty with mobility and flexing, and muscle tension when resting. If hypertonia is associated with cerebral palsy, known as hypertonic cerebral palsy, the long-term implications can be significant and life changing.

What is hypotonic muscle?

Hypotonia, commonly known as floppy baby syndrome, is a state of low muscle tone (the amount of tension or resistance to stretch in a muscle), often involving reduced muscle strength.

What is Hypotonia and Hypertonia?

They may have difficulty feeding, pulling, walking, or reaching. Hypo-tonia: is just the opposite of Hypertonia. ‘Tonia’ still signifies muscle tone, but ‘Hypo’ means under, or less. Hypotonia refers to decreased muscle tone, and too much flexibility.

What is increased tone?


Ataxia: Poor coordination and unsteadiness due to the brain’s failure to regulate the body’s posture and regulate the strength and direction of limb movements. Ataxia is usually due to disease in the cerebellum of the brain, which lies beneath the back part of the cerebrum.

What are the symptoms of acute cerebellar ataxia?

  • Impaired coordination in the torso or arms and legs.
  • Frequent stumbling.
  • An unsteady gait.
  • Uncontrolled or repetitive eye movements.
  • Trouble eating and performing other fine motor tasks.
  • Slurred speech.
  • Vocal changes.

Persistent ataxia usually results from damage to the part of your brain that controls muscle coordination (cerebellum). Many conditions can cause ataxia, including alcohol abuse, certain medications, stroke, tumour, cerebral palsy, brain degeneration and multiple sclerosis

There’s no treatment specifically for ataxia. In some cases, treating the underlying cause resolves the ataxia, such as stopping medications that cause it. In other cases, such as ataxia that results from chickenpox or other viral infection, it’s likely to resolve on its own.


  • This a condition in which abnormal muscle contraction causes involuntary writhing movements. It affects some people with cerebral palsy, impairing speech and use of the hands.