Cerebral Palsy

Once your child has been given a diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy, a referral will be made to the Cerebral Palsy Integrated Pathway (CPIP) programme.

The physiotherapists will see your child every 6 months until the age of 6 years, and then once a year until they are 16 years old. At each visit they will perform the exact same examination. This will act as an early warning system to tell us if any of the muscles are getting too tight.

Your physiotherapists will also refer your child for x-rays of their hips when necessary. The more severely affected your child is with Cerebral Palsy the more regular the x-rays will be.

CPIP works on a traffic light system. From the 20 years of data from Sweden, standard ranges have been established for all of the measurements taken in the CPIP assessment. As soon as your child’s measurement is inputted, it will immediately be labelled as green, amber or red.

If all of the scores are green then everything is progressing without concern. No changes will be made to our child’s care

If there is a new amber or red value, this indicates that there is an early problem. Your child’s physiotherapist will work to try to stretch out any tight muscles and will seek advice from the paediatric and orthopaedic doctors as needed.

Staying active

Staying active is just as important for children with a diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy as any other child. Please see below some links to specialist groups, for some more ideas.

Your Physiotherapist will discuss further specific advice with you after your assessment.