Chapter 12

Difference between plegia and Paresis

1. Chapter 12: - plegia & -paresis Andrea Gallegos

2. Quadroplegia Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia , is paralysis caused by illness or injury that results in the partial or total loss of use of all four limbs and torso. The loss is usually sensory and motor, which means that both sensation and control are lost. The primary cause of quadriplegia is a spinal cord injury, but other conditions such as cerebral palsy and strokes can cause a similar appearing paralysis. The amount of impairment resulting from a spinal cord injury depends on the part of the spinal cord injured and the amount of damage done. Injury to the spinal cord can be devastating because the spinal cord and the brain are the main parts of the central nervous system, which sends messages throughout your body.

3. Plegia Plegia : Suffix meaning paralysis or a stroke. hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body ) paraplegia (paralysis of the legs ) Quadriplegia/ tetraplegia (paralysis of all four extremities).

4. Paraplegia: Paralysis is a general term used to describe the loss of movements and/or sensation following damage to the nervous system. Knowing the precise level of the injury is helpful in predicting which parts of the body will be affected by paralysis and loss of function. Paraplegia describes complete or incomplete paralysis affecting the legs and possibly also the trunk, but not the arms. The extent to which the trunk is affected depends on the level of spinal cord injury. Paraplegia is the result of damage to the cord at T1 and below. Injuries at the thoracic level and below result in paraplegia, with the hands not affected. At T-1 to T-8 there is most often control of the hands, but poor trunk control as the result of lack of abdominal muscle control. Lower T-injuries (T-9 to T-12) allow good truck control and good abdominal muscle control. Sitting balance is very good. Lumbar and Sacral injuries yield decreasing control of the hip flexors and legs.

5. Hemiplegia hemiplegia [ hem″e-ple´jah ] paralysis of one side of the body; usually caused by a brain lesion, such as a tumor, or by stroke syndrome. The paralysis occurs on the side opposite the brain disorder; this is explained by the fact that motor axons from the cerebral cortex enter the medulla oblongata and form two well-defined bands known as the pyramidal tracts. The majority of the fibers in these tracts cross to the opposite side; therefore damage to the right cerebral hemisphere affects motor control of the left half of the body.

6. Paresis a condition of muscular weakness caused by nerve damage or disease; partial paralysis .

7. Limbs Monoparesis  — One leg or one arm Paraparesis  — Both legs Hemiparesis  — One arm and one leg on either side of the body Tetraparesis / Quadriparesis  — All four limbs Other Gastroparesis  – impaired stomach emptying

8. What is the difference between Plegia and Paresis? paresis means weakness but plegia means paralysis or no movement at all

9. Citations: Hemiparetic cerebral palsy: etiological risk factors and neuroimaging  journal article 2001 Visual function in children with hemiplegia in the first years of life   2001 The relationship between infections and adverse pregnancy outcomes: an overview , Dec. 2001 Premotor cortex  is involved in restoration of gait in stroke, Aug. 2002 Intact motor imagery in chronic upper limb hemiplegics : evidence for activity-independent action representations, Aug. 2002 Comparing tests of tactile sensibility : aspects relevant to testing children with spastic hemiplegia. Sept. 2002. Sweden . Neuroimaging fails to identify asymptomatic carriers of familial porencephaly . Belgium. October 2002 Hand function in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy : prospective follow-up and functional outcome in adolescence. Italy. Feb. 2003