Health Issues and Participation in Adults with Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is defined as a group of permanent disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitation, that are attributed to nonprogressive disturbances that occurred in the developing foetal or infant brain. The motor disorders of CP are often accompanied by disturbances of sensation, perception, cognition, communication, and behaviour, by epilepsy, and by secondary musculoskeletal problems. The permanent and complex nature of CP and the risk of developing secondary conditions imply that persons with CP will face health issues and participation restrictions throughout life. Therefore, it is necessary to study each life phase. However, in contrast to CP in childhood, CP in adulthood is scarcely studied. The main aim of this thesis is to improve our insight into health issues and participation amongst adults with spastic CP, and to identify targets for prevention and treatment of both health problems and participation restrictions.