Things To Know About Pediatric Neurological Examination

A newborn baby or kids can suffer from various types of neurological disorders. This mainly occurs due to damage in brain development in babies. Your doctor may suggest going for a pediatric neurological exam on your baby. Make sure to consult a reputed pediatric neurosurgeon in India to treat your baby with neurological problems. You would have many doubts when your baby is about to go for a pediatric neurological exam. The following serves as a guide to know about the pediatric neurological examination.

What Is a Neurological Exam?

It is a collection of tests carried out to diagnose neurological problems in your child. It is an exam where your doctor witnesses the nervous system in action. This can help to assess various mental conditions. Your doctor would be able to tell the mental status, motor and sensory skills, balance and coordination and reflexes of your kid after a neurological exam. There are different types of neurological exams. The type of examination is decided by the symptoms experienced by your kid.

Pediatric Neurological Examination-Reasons

When you notice certain symptoms in your baby or your child, your doctor might suggest undergoing a neurological examination. It is an early diagnosis procedure for neurological disorders. Regular development and functioning of your child gets affected due to neurological problems. Thus a neurological exam can help in early diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. It avoids long-term complications. Your doctor may suggest a neurological exam if your child experiences the following symptoms.

• Headache

• Blurry vision

• Abnormal fever

• Change in balance

• Fatigue

• Decrease in movement

• Head, neck injury

• Change in behaviour

• Congenital disabilities

Neurological exams are carried out immediately after birth or in later childhood. It is usually carried out to rule out possible neurological issues. A neurological exam is done to assess the following.

Mental status: Assess how your child interacts and the level of awareness. The examination procedure varies based on the age of your child.

Motor Function and Balance: To check if your child can perform certain physical activities. Check if the joints and muscles move in the right way.

Sensory Perception: Checks if your child possesses the ability to feel.

Neurological Examination-Procedure

A neurologist usually performs a neurological exam. It is carried out in the hospital room. The examination procedure takes about 30 minutes. Your doctor interacts with your child or the parent before carrying out the examination. This gives a clear idea of the symptoms faced by your child. A pediatric neurologist is involved in the neurological assessment of kids. Your doctor knows about your child’s medical history and forms theories based on it. The test helps to know about the functioning of the central nervous system. They also examine to test their theories.

The above gives a clear idea on pediatric neurological examination carried out on babies and older kids.

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