What is MND and Do Sportspeople More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
Motor neurone disease affects nerve cells located in the cerebrum and spine, that instruct your muscles what to do.
This causes them to lose strength and become rigid over time and usually affects how you walk, speak, consume food and breathe.
This is a relatively rare condition that is most common in individuals over 50, but grown-ups of any age can be affected.
A person's chance in their life of developing MND is one in 300.
About five thousand people in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.
Scientists are not sure what causes MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your mother and father when you are born, and additional lifestyle factors.
For up to one in 10 individuals with MND, particular genetic factors play a much larger role.
There is usually a family history of the illness in such instances.
Identifying the First Signs of the Condition?
MND impacts each person uniquely.
Not all individuals has the same symptoms, or encounters them in the same order.
The disease can progress at varying rates too.
Some of the most frequent signs are:
- muscle weakness and muscle spasms
- rigid articulations
- difficulties in how you speak
- complications involving swallowing, consuming food and drinking
- weakened coughing
Is There a Treatment?
There is no cure, but there is optimism coming from therapies targeted at various types of MND.
MND is not one disease - it is really several that culminate in the demise of motor neurones.
A new drug known as tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in certain instances even undo - a portion of the symptoms of MND.
It has been referred to as "truly remarkable" and a "significant point of optimism" for the entire condition.
Even though the drug has recently been approved in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK.
Just one pharmaceutical presently approved for the treatment of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.
Riluzole may slow down the progression of the disease and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse harm.
Determining Survival Rate for MND?
Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and survived until 76.
But for most, the disease advances rapidly and life expectancy is only several years.
Based on the non-profit MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a third of individuals within a year and more than half within 24 months of identification.
As the neurons stop working, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and many people need nutritional support or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive.
Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
The exact cause has not yet been found, but elite athletes seem overrepresented by MND.
Two studies from 2005 and 2009 showed that professional footballers have an increased risk of contracting MND.
Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow involving four hundred ex- Scotland rugby union players determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the condition.
Researchers also found that rugby players who have suffered repeated head injuries have biological differences that may make them more prone to contracting MND.
The MND Association recognizes there is a "link" between contact sports and MND.
It added that while the athletes researched were more likely to acquire MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly caused the condition.
The charity also emphasises that "reported MND instances in these studies is remains quite small, and so concluding there is a definite increased risk could be misunderstood if this is simply a grouping due to random chance".
Several prominent sports figures have been identified with the condition in recent years.
These include ex- rugby internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes.
Across the Atlantic, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease at the age of 39.
