Understanding Motor Neurone Disease and Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

MND affects nerve cells found in the brain and spine, which tell your muscle tissue what to do.

This leads them to weaken and become rigid over time and usually affects how you walk, speak, eat and breathe.

This is a relatively rare disease that is most common in individuals above age fifty, but adults of all ages can be impacted.

A person's lifetime risk of developing MND is 1 out of 300.

About 5,000 adults in the UK will have the disease at any one time.

Researchers are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a mix of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your mother and father when you are delivered, and other environmental influences.

For up to 10% of individuals with MND, specific genes are far more significant.

Typically there is a hereditary background of the illness in these cases.

What are the First Signs of the Disease?

MND affects everyone differently.

Not all individuals has the identical signs, or encounters them in the same order.

The condition can progress at varying rates too.

Some of the most frequent signs are:

• loss of muscle strength and muscle spasms
• rigid articulations
• difficulties in your speech
• issues with swallowing, consuming food and taking fluids
• weakened coughing

Does There Exist a Cure?

There is no cure, but there is hope coming from treatments targeted at various types of MND.

MND is not one disease - it is actually several that culminate in the demise of nerve cells.

An innovative medication known as tofersen works in just 2% of individuals, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in some cases even undo - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of optimism" for the whole disease.

Although the drug has recently been approved in the EU, it is not currently accessible in the UK.

There is only one pharmaceutical currently licensed for the treatment of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.

Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the condition and prolong life by a few months, but it does not reverse damage.

What is Life Expectancy for MND?

Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, including renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the age of 22 and survived until 76.

But for most, the disease advances rapidly and survival time is just a few years.

According to the non-profit MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a third of individuals within a twelve months and more than half within two years of diagnosis.

As the nerve cells stop working, swallowing and respiration become increasingly difficult and many people need nutritional support or respiratory aids to help them remain living.

Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

The precise reason has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople seem overrepresented by MND.

A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 indicated that professional footballers have an increased risk of developing MND.

Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow including 400 ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the condition.

Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have experienced repeated head injuries have physiological variations that could render them more susceptible to developing MND.

The MND Association acknowledges there is a "link" between collision sports and MND.

It noted that while the athletes studied were had a greater chance to acquire MND, it did not show the sports directly led to the disease.

The charity also stresses that "reported MND cases in these studies is remains quite small, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misunderstood if this is simply a grouping due to random chance".

Multiple high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the disease in the past few years.

These include ex- rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricketers.

In the United States, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the disease at the age of 39.