Cerebral Palsy used to be called “Little’s Disease”, after the surgeon William Little, who defined what is now known as “spastic diplegia” (“Little’s Diplegia”) in the 1860s. The medical debate about its causes continues to the present day, and different types of cerebral palsy were gradually classified.
In the 1880s, the physician William Osler investigated several conditions including Little’s Disease, and published more detailed information about them. It was Osler who coined the term “Cerebral Palsy”. Others including the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, in the 1890s, also contributed to the development of knowledge about cerebral palsy. As imaging technology developed during the 20th century, this contributed to the understanding of where and how the brain is damaged. Genetic studies have helped in the understanding of how the brain’s development could alter before birth. Large studies of the histories of people who have cerebral palsy, have added to the understanding of its causes and effects.
The term “Cerebral Palsy” is used today to describe a group of chronic neurological disorders that permanently affect the control of movement and posture. They appear in infancy or early childhood. Another term in use today is “Static Encephalopathy”, meaning any form of permanent, unchanging brain damage, describing a number of conditions including cerebral palsy.
