What is Motor Neurone Disease and Do Sportspeople More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

Motor neurone disease affects nerves found in the brain and spinal cord, which tell your muscle tissue how to function.

This causes them to weaken and become rigid gradually and typically impacts how you walk, speak, eat and respire.

This is a quite uncommon disease that is most frequent in people over 50, but adults of all ages can be impacted.

An individual's lifetime risk of developing MND is 1 out of 300.

About 5,000 people in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.

Researchers are uncertain what causes MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genetic material - or biological traits - you get from your parents when you are delivered, and additional lifestyle factors.

For up to one in 10 individuals with MND, specific genes are far more significant.

There is usually a hereditary background of the illness in these cases.

What are the Early Symptoms of the Disease?

MND affects everyone differently.

Not all individuals has the identical signs, or experiences them in the identical sequence.

The disease can advance at different speeds too.

Among the most frequent indicators are:

• muscle weakness and muscle spasms
• stiff joints
• difficulties in how you speak
• issues with ingesting, eating and drinking
• weakened coughing

Is There a Cure?

No definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from treatments targeted at different forms of MND.

MND is not one disease - it is really multiple that result in the death of motor neurones.

An innovative medication called tofersen is effective in just 2% of patients, however it has been demonstrated to decelerate - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of optimism" for the entire condition.

Although the medication has recently been approved in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK.

Just one drug presently approved for the treatment of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.

Riluzole may slow down the progression of the condition and increase survival by a few months, but it does not reverse damage.

Determining Survival Rate for MND?

Some people can live for many years with MND, including renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and survived until 76.

But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and life expectancy is only several years.

According to the charity MND Association, the disease kills a one-third of individuals within a year and more than half within two years of identification.

As the neurons cease functioning, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them remain living.

Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

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

A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an increased risk of contracting MND.

Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University including 400 former Scotland rugby union players concluded they had an increased risk of developing the condition.

Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered repeated head injuries have physiological variations that may make them more prone to contracting MND.

The MND Association recognizes there is a "correlation" between collision sports and MND.

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

The organization also emphasises that "reported MND cases in these studies is remains quite small, and so determining there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is merely a grouping due to random chance".

Multiple prominent athletes have been diagnosed with the condition in the past few years.

This encompasses ex- rugby internationals, footballers, and cricketers.

Across the Atlantic, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig died from the condition at the age of 39.