🔗 Share this article What is Motor Neurone Disease and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Receive a Diagnosis? MND impacts nerve cells located in the brain and spinal cord, which tell your muscle tissue how to function. This leads them to lose strength and become rigid over time and usually affects how you walk, talk, consume food and respire. This is a quite uncommon disease that is most frequent in individuals above age fifty, but adults of any age can be affected. An individual's lifetime risk of contracting MND is one in 300. Approximately five thousand people in the UK are living with the disease at any one time. Researchers are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you get from your parents when you are born, and additional lifestyle factors. In as many as one in 10 people with MND, specific genes play a much larger role. There is usually a hereditary background of the disease in these cases. What are the First Signs of the Disease? MND affects everyone differently. Not all individuals has the identical signs, or experiences them in the same order. The condition can advance at varying rates too. Among the most frequent indicators are: loss of muscle strength and cramps rigid articulations difficulties in how you speak issues with swallowing, consuming food and drinking weakened coughing Does There Exist a Cure? There is no cure, but there is optimism coming from therapies focused on different forms of MND. MND is not a single illness - it is really several that result in the demise of motor neurones. An innovative medication known as tofersen works in just 2% of patients, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in certain instances even reverse - some of the symptoms of MND. It has been described as "truly remarkable" and a "real moment of hope" for the whole disease. Although the medication has recently received approval in the EU, it is not currently accessible in the UK. There is only one drug currently licensed for the treatment of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS. Riluzole could decelerate the progression of the disease and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse harm. What is Life Expectancy for MND? Some people can live for many years with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76. But for most, the disease advances rapidly and survival time is only several years. Based on the charity MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a third of individuals within a year and over 50% within 24 months of diagnosis. As the neurons cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and numerous individuals need feeding tubes 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 appear disproportionately affected by MND. A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 indicated that soccer players have an elevated chance of contracting MND. Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow involving 400 former Scotland rugby union players determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the disease. Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have experienced multiple concussions have physiological variations that could render them more susceptible to developing MND. The MND Association recognizes there is a "link" between contact sports and MND. It added that while the sportspeople studied were more likely to acquire MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly caused the condition. The charity also emphasises that "documented MND cases in these studies is remains quite small, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is simply a cluster due to statistical coincidence". Multiple prominent athletes have been diagnosed with the condition in recent years. This encompasses ex- rugby players, soccer players, and cricket athletes. In the United States, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the condition at the age of 39.