29/12/2025
TYPES OF PARALYSIS
There are several types of paralysis and each type of paralysis results in different symptoms. There are five distinct categories whereby paralysis can be classified:
MONOPLEGIA
When paralysis is limited to just one part of the body – such as a single limb – it is known as monoplegia. Patients with this form of paralysis usually retain motion and sensation elsewhere in the body. Sometimes, monoplegia is a temporary condition of a stroke or brain injury. Most often, monoplegia is caused by cerebral palsy, though other trauma, such as strokes, tumors and nerve damage caused by illness, may be responsible.
HEMIPLEGIA
Not to be confused with diplegia, this type of paralysis occurs when a patient experiences a loss of function in an arm and a leg on a single side of the body – also known as the paralysis of one side of the body. While cerebral palsy remains the most common cause, the extent of paralysis in hemiplegia patients can change over time, either from day to day or declining over a long period. Oftentimes, it is preceded by a weakness on the same side of the body, known as hemiparesis. Hemiplegia can result in a variety of conditions, including:
Changes in cognition, mood, or perception;
Reduced ability to speak;
Seizures; and
Reduced muscle density due to atrophy and spasms.
DIPLEGIA
This type of symmetrical paralysis affects the same area on both sides of the body — such as both arms or both legs. It most frequently affects children but can impact anyone of any age.
PARAPLEGIA
When a patient is paralyzed from the waist down he or she is suffering from paraplegia. Like hemiplegia, this condition – most often the result of a spinal cord injury – can vary from person to person and its effects depend on a variety of factors. Some of the symptoms of paraplegia include:
Loss of mobility or sensory function below the waist;
Changes in mood;
Loss of sensation or phantom pain;
Decreased sexual function, libido, or fertility; and
Chronic pain.
Sometimes, patients are not even restricted to a wheelchair, and in rare cases, they are able to spontaneously recover.
QUADRIPLEGIA/TETRAPLEGIA
The most severe of these four basic forms of paralysis, patients suffering from quadriplegia (or tetraplegia) have paralysis from the neck down. The severity of this condition varies from one case to the next, and patients can sometimes recover with physical therapy and other rehabilitation methods. Spinal cord injuries are usually the culprit here as well, and quadriplegia can on occasion be a temporary effect of a stroke, brain injury or temporary spinal pressure.
LOCKED-IN SYNDROME
Locked-in syndrome is the rarest and most severe form of paralysis, where a person loses control of all their muscles except the ones that control their eye movements.
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