Is spastic another word for cerebral palsy?
No, spastic is the old-fashioned word for cerebral palsy, but the word ‘spasticity’ is used conventionally to describe the increase in postural tone (hypertonus) seen in some children with cerebral palsy. Tone is the term used to describe the relative stiffness/floppiness of muscles. Tone must be high enough to allow you to resist gravity, but low enough to allow you to move. Other types of tone seen in cerebral palsy are: athetosis, ataxia and hypotonus.
