What is MND and Are Athletes More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
MND impacts nerves located in the cerebrum and spinal cord, which tell your muscle tissue what to do.
This causes them to weaken and become rigid gradually and typically impacts how you walk, talk, consume food and breathe.
This is a quite uncommon disease that is most common in individuals over 50, but grown-ups of all ages can be impacted.
An individual's lifetime risk of developing MND is one in 300.
Approximately 5,000 adults in the UK are living with the disease at any one time.
Researchers are uncertain what causes MND, but it is probable to be a combination of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your parents when you are delivered, and other lifestyle factors.
For up to one in 10 individuals with MND, specific genes are far more significant.
Typically there is a hereditary background of the disease in these cases.
Identifying the First Signs of the Condition?
MND affects everyone differently.
Not all individuals has the identical signs, or experiences them in the same order.
The disease can progress at varying rates too.
Among the most common indicators are:
- loss of muscle strength and muscle spasms
- rigid articulations
- problems with your speech
- complications involving swallowing, eating and taking fluids
- weakened coughing
Does There Exist a Treatment?
There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from treatments targeted at various types of MND.
MND is not one disease - it is really several that culminate in the death of motor neurones.
An innovative medication known as tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been shown to slow - and in some cases even undo - some of the manifestations of MND.
It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of optimism" for the whole disease.
Even though the medication has recently received approval in the EU, it is not currently accessible 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 prolong life by a few months, but it does not reverse damage.
Determining Survival Rate for MND?
Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.
But for most, the disease progresses quickly and survival time is only several years.
According to the charity MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a third of people within a year and more than half within 24 months of identification.
As the nerve cells stop working, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and many people need nutritional support or respiratory aids to help them remain living.
Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
The exact cause has not yet been found, but elite athletes seem disproportionately affected by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an elevated chance of developing MND.
A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow involving 400 ex- Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an increased risk of developing the disease.
Scientists also found that rugby athletes who have experienced multiple concussions have biological differences that could render them more susceptible to developing MND.
The MND Association recognizes there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.
It added that while the athletes studied were more likely to develop MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly caused the disease.
The organization also stresses that "reported MND instances in this research is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is merely a grouping due to random chance".
Multiple high-profile sports figures have been identified with the condition in recent years.
These include ex- rugby union players, footballers, and cricketers.
Across the Atlantic, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig died from the disease aged 39.