In a message dated 4/29/00 9:04:46 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< Hi again,

I had also joined a 'yahoo' club for spina bifida and asked the same question
there, about being related to cp........  the answer I got from two people say
yes, particularly in myelomeningocele cases (I was one)...... here's what one
person said:
---------------------------
   Cerebral Palsey and spina bifida are in fact related. I was told
   when my son was very young that he does have cerebral palsey
   due to the fact that he has brain involvement with his spina
   bifida ie arnold chiari malformation and hydracephalus and
   shunt.  >>

Beth,

    We may be "splitting semantic hairs", but cerebral palsy is in no way
related to spina bifida. CP is a group of paralyses involving injury to the
motor cortex of the brain and has nothing to do with the spinal cord. Are the
"effects" of sb and cp alike? maybe. In the classic sense, the motor cortex
is a long way from the spinal cord.
Ask any neurologist.


Bobby