One of the many great things about working at EXAIR is they allow us to be us, and typically once a year or so I get to do a blog about something this is important to me as a person away from work! Now I’m not saying using an intelligently designed engineered compressed air product isn’t important to me… to steal a line from my coworker Russ, “I could talk about our compressed air products and how they can help you all day! And most days I do!!”
But National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month is very important to me as my two-year-old Lincoln is affected by Quadriplegia Spastic Cerebral Palsy;
- The majority of individuals with CP have the spastic form (approximately 85 percent). In spastic CP the individual has abnormal muscle tone and the muscles are stiff, making movement difficult. The graphic below illustrates common areas where an individual’s body may be affected by spasticity-also known as topography.
- In people with diplegia mostly the lower half of the body is affected.
- In people with hemiplegia mostly one side of the body is affected.
- And in people with quadriplegia, all four limbs are affected and the muscles of the trunk, face and mouth may also be affected.
- Increasingly more researchers and clinicians have begun using the terms bilateral CP (affecting both sides of the body) and unilateral CP (affecting one side of the body) to replace diplegia, hemiplegia and quadriplegia. The terms you hear will depend on the preferences of the professionals.
Every day as a Dad I see things that my son does and will have difficulty doing, but boy that doesn’t slow him down! And since 2021 I’ve made it a mission to share information on CP with as many people as possible. Because before Lincoln came into my life I knew very little about it myself. He is different, but that doesn’t make him bad! It makes him shine brighter than everyone else!
Be kind and love one another!
Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer
Send me an Email
Find us on the Web
Like us on Facebook
Twitter: @EXAIR_JS
Compressor internals image courtesy of The Cerebral Palsy Research Network