Cerebral palsy physical examination

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Iqra Qamar M.D.[2]

Overview

Patients with cerebral palsy usually have abnormal neck or truncal tone, asymmetric posture, abnormal strength, gait and coordination. Physical examination of patients with cerebral palsy is usually remarkable for neuromuscular findings such as tremors or involuntary movements, athetosis, chorea, muscle rigidity, sensory loss, diplegia/hemiplegia/quadriplegia, intellectual disability, dystonia, normal/increased/decreased tone, persistent or asymmetric fisting, abnormal oromotor patterns, tongue retraction and thrust, tonic bite, oral hypersensitivity, grimacing, poor head control and spastic cerebral palsy presents with features of upper motor neuron lesion.

Physical Examination

CP: Cerebral palsy; PVL: Periventricular leukomalacia; SGA: Small for gestational age.

Type of motor dysfunction		Common causes	Percentage of CP cases	Age at which infants affected	Clinical findings
Spastic (Pyramidal) subtypes	Spastic diplegia	Most commonly associated with PVL	13 to 25%	Preterm infants Risk increases with decreasing gestational age	Lower limbs are more affected than the upper limbs Affected patients have flexion, adduction, and internal rotation of the hips with contractures of the hip flexors and hamstring muscles Variable degrees of flexion at the elbows and knees Reduced limb length and muscle bulk in lower extremities
	Spastic hemiplegia	Neonatal stroke Prenatal circulatory disturbances Brain development problems	21 to 40%	Term infants of normal birth weight	One side of the body is affected The arm typically is more affected than the leg The arm is adducted at the shoulder and flexed at the elbow, the forearm is pronated, and the wrist and fingers are flexed with the hand closed The hip is partially flexed and adducted, and the knee and ankle are flexed; the foot may remain in the equinovarus or calcaneovalgus position Most children also have sensory deficits In mildly affected patients, postural abnormalities are more apparent during walking or running; however, unless severe intellectual disability is present, independent walking usually occurs at the appropriate age or is only slightly delayed
	Spastic quadriplegia	[[|TORCH|Congenital infection]] Cerebral dysgenesis Perinatal or postnatal events	20 to 43%	Most commonly term SGA infants, but can also occur in preterm infants	All limbs are affected Upper limbs may be equally or more involved than lower limbs Children often are severely handicapped Feeding difficulties, chronic respiratory insufficiency, and seizure are common
Dyskinetic (extra-pyramidal) subtypes		Most cases are caused by severe perinatal asphyxia resulting in injury to the thalamus, basal ganglia, hippocampus, reticular formation, and/or cerebellum Severe hyperbilirubinemia (kernicterus) can cause choreoathetotic CP	12 to 14%	Predominantly term infants	Choreoathetotic CP: Chorea consists of rapid, irregular, unpredictable contractions of individual muscles or small muscle groups that involve the face, bulbar muscles, proximal extremities, and fingers and toes Athetosis consists of slow, smooth, writhing movements that involve distal muscles Movements may be induced or accentuated by emotion or change in posture Athetosis is most apparent during reaching Stress, excitement, or fever may exacerbate chorea Primitive reflexes often are retained Oropharyngeal difficulties occur commonly
					Dystonic CP: Repetitive, patterned, twisting, and sustained movements of the trunk and limbs that may be either slow or rapid Pyramidal signs and anarthria may occur "Tension", a sudden involuntary increase in tone affecting both flexor and extensor muscles, may occur during attempted movement or with emotion Tendon reflexes are normal or may be difficult to elicit Clonus and extensor plantar responses are absent
Ataxic CP		Most cases are caused by early prenatal events Etiology is frequently unknown Some cases have genetic causes, including: Cerebellar hypoplasia Granule cell deficiency Joubert syndrome Rarely associated with congenital hypoplasia of the cerebellum	4 to 13%	Term infants	Ataxic movements Widespread disorder of motor function Ataxia usually improves with time Speech typically is slow, jerky, and explosive

Developmental milestones:

• The most common delayed motor milestones are:
  • Unable to sit by 8 months
  • Unable to walk by 18 months
  • Hand preference at < 1yr age

Appearance of the Patient

• General physical examination may show:
  • Abnormal neck or truncal tone
  • Asymmetric posture
  • Abnormal strength
  • Abnormal gait
  • Abnormal coordination
• Cerebral palsy involves a non-progressive motor dysfunction affecting muscle tone, posture and movement. On physical examination, following findings may be observed:
  • Serial examinations are required to make a definitive diagnosis as the maturation of nervous system continues even after birth resulting in evolvement of neurological function and functioning ability.

HEENT

• Dysarthria
• Abnormal hearing tests
• Visual abnormalities

Lungs

• Decreased chest expansion
• Fine/coarse crackles upon auscultation of the lung bases unilaterally/bilaterally
• Rhonchi
• Wheezing may be present

Heart

• S1
• S2

Abdomen

• Guarding may be present

Back

• Scoliosis

Neuromuscular

• Tremors or involuntary movements
• Athetosis -slow, writhing movements
• Chorea
• Muscle rigidity
• Sensory loss
• Diplegia/hemiplegia/quadriplegia
• Intellectual disability
• Dystonia
• Tone may be normal/increased/decreased
  • Persistent or asymmetric fisting
  • Abnormal oromotor patterns
    • Tongue retraction and thrust
    • Tonic bite
    • Oral hypersensitivity
    • Grimacing
  • Poor head control
• Spastic cerebral palsy presents with features of upper motor neuron lesion that includes:
  • Positive signs:
    • Muscle spasticity
    • Clonus may be present
    • Hyperreflexia
    • Extensor muscle response
  • Negative signs such as:
    • Fatigue
    • Weakness
    • Slow, effortful voluntary movements
    • Impaired fine-motor function
    • Difficulty in isolating individual movement
• Abnormal gait: Walking on toes/ a crouched gait/ a scissors-like gait with knees crossing/ a wide gait or an asymmetrical gait
• Persistence or exaggeration of primitive reflexes such as:
  • Moro reflex (startle reflex)
  • Asymmetric tonic neck reflexes (fencing posture with neck turned in same direction when one arm is extended and the other is flexed)
• Other reflexes that might be noticed include:
  • Symmetric tonic neck reflex
  • Palmar grasp reflex
  • Tonic labyrinthine reflex
  • Foot placement reflex
  • Underdevelopment/disappearance/absence of postural or protective reflexes (extending arm when sitting up)

Extremities

• Common findings seen in cerebral palsy on hip, knee and foot joint are as follows:
  • Hip
    • Excessive flexion
    • Adduction
    • Femoral anteversion
  • Knee
    • flexion and extension with valgus or varus stress
  • Foot
    • Equinus or toe walking
    • Varus or valgus of the hindfoot
• Spastic diplegia may involve
  • flexion at the elbows and knees
  • flexion, adduction, and internal rotation of the hips
  • Equinovalgus or calcaneovarus deformity of the foot
  • Atrophy below the waist
• Spastic hemiplegia
  • Shoulder retraction and flexion of fingers with adduction of the thumb
  • Hip is partially flexed and adducted with flexed ankle and knee
• Chorea
• Athetosis
• Ataxia