Cerebral Palsy Impairments, Assessments, and Interventions for Physical Therapy Practice Exam

Muscular weakness is the direct deficit in how much force a muscle can generate, which stems from the brain injury in cerebral palsy and therefore is a primary body function impairment. The brain’s impaired input to the muscles leads to reduced voluntary activation and strength, which underlies many functional limitations. Spasticity describes increased muscle tone and resistance to passive movement, which affects movement quality but isn’t the basic strength deficit itself. Dyskinesia and ataxia refer to abnormal movement patterns and coordination problems, not the fundamental capacity of muscles to produce force. So strength loss best fits as the core body function impairment.