The Primary Impairments of Spina Bifida

Spina Bifida, of any type, can lead to significant impairments that, when untreated, can result in abnormal functioning and the inability to perform daily living activities. Such impairments might include those involving the senses, those involving the ability to move the extremities, impairments of the internal organs and even, to some degree, impaired thinking and memory capability. For parents caring for a Spina Bifida child, understanding the primary impairments so often associated with Spina Bifida may lead to a more educated and comprehensive treatment plan approach to improve the child's overall quality of life.

Sensory impairments of the Spina Bifida child are those impairments of the senses, involving smell, touch, taste and hearing. For the Spina Bifida child, the most common sensory impairment involves the ability to experience the sensation of touch. Without a sense of touch, unfortunately, the Spina Bifida child will often suffer from the inability to sense pain, pressure and may, at time, assume an odd bodily position due to the inability to gauge and sense irregular muscle movement and patterns. As a result, parents caring for a Spina Bifida child must remain cognitively aware of irregular movements of the child which may create injury or health complications for which the Spina Bifida child has not ability to feel.

In addition to sensory impairments, the Spina Bifida child may also experience gross motor impairment, or inability to control body movements. While this may be secondary to a sensory impairment, in many Spina Bifida children, the motor impairment is usually a direct result of the exposed nerve fibers at the neural tube defect in the spinal column. Most notably, children will Spina Bifida will exhibit gross motor deficits involving the inability to control the hip and leg muscles, often leaving many children unable to walk normally or experience delay in two leg walking until well into grade school years and, even then, with the use of assistive walking devices.