Poliomyelitis

Abortive poliomyelitis: Illness lasts for 1-4 days. Symptoms are fever, headache, sore-throat, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, vague abdominal pain. Neurological manifestation is absent.

Aseptic meningitis like syndrome without paralysis: The symptoms are like those of abortive type. In addition, there is pain and stiffness of the back and legs. Neck rigidity is usually present and is necessary for diagnosis.

Paralytic poliomyelitis: It is the least common of all. The manifestations are similar to non-paralytic type. In addition, there is weakness of one or more muscle groups. Distribution of paralysis is characteristically patchy. Depending on the site of involvement, it may be classified as follows:

Spinal: There is weakness of muscles of the neck, abdomen, trunk diaphragm, thorax or extremities.

Bulbar: There is weakness in the motor, distribution of one or more cranial nervesand may affect voice, breathing and swallowing.

Bulbospinal: is combination of bulbar and spinal forms

Encephalitic: the child is irritable and may become disoriented and drowsy, tremors and convulsions may occur.

Post polio syndrome: Decades after recovering much of their muscle strength, survivors of paralytic polio experience unexpected fatigue, pain and weakness. The cause appears to be degeneration of motor neurons.

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is a “persistent disorder of movement and posture appearing early in life and due to a developmental non-progressive disorder of the brain”. Cerebral palsy is not a disease, nor is it hereditary. Although the abnormality of movement and posture cannot be completely corrected, they may improve as the child's nervous system grows and matures.

Muscular Dystrophies

The muscular dystrophies are a heterogeneous group of inherited disorders with gradual degeneration of the muscle fibres. There are three main types of muscular dystrophies.

Arthritis

The word 'arthritis' literally means joint inflammation. It is characterized by pain, swelling and limitation of joint movement

Stroke

Stroke is characterized by sudden loss of motor control usually hemiplegia i.e. involvement of face, arm and leg of one side. It may be accompanied by unconsciousness, speech disturbance, visual and hearing loss, numbness, burning pain, sensory deficit and psychiatric disturbances. Incidence of stroke is higher among men than women.

2. Answer the questions:

a) What is locomotor impairment?

b) What body parts can be injured and lead to locomotor disability?

c) What is Poliomyelitis?

d) What is Arthritis?

e) What is Cerebral Palsy?

f) What is Muscular Dystrophies?

g) What is Stroke?

h) What other locomotor impairments do you know? Describe their main signs.

3. Watch the movie “Theory of everything” (2014) by James Marsh and discuss the following issues:

· What kind of disorder did the main hero have?

· Who was Stephen Hawking?

· Where was he from?

· What are his achievements in science?

· How did the movie inspire other people with disabilities?

Practical lesson #11

1. Read the text about Multiple disabilities.

Multiple disabilities is a term for a person with several disabilities, such as a sensory disability associated with a motor disability. Persons with multiple disabilities have a combination of two or more serious disabilities (e.g., cognitive, movement, sensory), such as mental retardation with cerebral palsy.

People with severe or multiple disabilities may exhibit a wide range of characteristics: