>Does anyone know what distal spastic deplegia is ? An applicant has
>put it on his UCAS form.
>
My dictionary defines distal as:
"(Anatomical) Away from the centre of body or point of attachment,
terminal."
Which doesn't help at all! Could they mean "distonic" spastic diplegia?
My understanding of Distonic CP is that it refers to an inability to control
tone. So whereas people spastic diplegia have "stiff" legs, an individual
with the distonic form can't finely graduate their muscle tone and therefore
have poorly coordinated movements in their legs, poor balance and posture.
Also note that, diplegic usually means that the legs are more severely
affected - not that the arms and hands are completely un-affected. So, for
instance this person might have fine motor difficulties leading to
handwriting problems.
I'm sure any Physiotherapist contributors can give a more accurate
description.
Phil
Phil Satchell
Technical Project Officer, Office for Students with Disabilities
Open University
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|