What is Motor Neurone Disease and Do Sportspeople More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
MND impacts nerves found in the brain and spinal cord, that instruct your muscles how to function.
This leads them to weaken and become rigid over time and usually affects your walking, speak, eat and respire.
It is a relatively rare disease that is most frequent in individuals over 50, but grown-ups of any age can be affected.
A person's chance in their life of developing MND is 1 out of 300.
About five thousand adults in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.
Scientists are not sure what causes MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genetic material - or biological traits - you inherit from your parents when you are delivered, and additional lifestyle factors.
For up to 10% of people with MND, specific genes are far more significant.
Typically there is a hereditary background of the illness in these cases.
Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Condition?
MND impacts each person uniquely.
Not everyone has the same symptoms, or experiences them in the identical sequence.
The condition can progress at varying rates too.
Some of the most common signs are:
- muscle weakness and muscle spasms
- stiff joints
- problems with how you speak
- issues with ingesting, consuming food and taking fluids
- weakened coughing
Does There Exist a Cure?
There is no cure, but there is optimism coming from therapies targeted at different forms of MND.
MND is not a single illness - it is really several that result in the death of nerve cells.
A new drug called tofersen works in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been shown to decelerate - 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.
Even though the drug has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not currently accessible in the UK.
There is only one drug presently approved for the treatment of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.
Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the disease and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse damage.
What is Life Expectancy for MND?
Certain individuals can live for many years with MND, including renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and lived to 76.
But for most, the disease advances rapidly and life expectancy is just a few years.
Based on the non-profit MND Association, the condition kills a third of people within a twelve months and more than half within two years of diagnosis.
As the neurons cease functioning, ingestion and respiration become more challenging and many people need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them remain living.
Are Athletes At Greater Risk to Be Diagnosed?
The precise reason has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople seem disproportionately affected by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that professional footballers have an increased risk of developing MND.
Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University involving 400 former Scotland rugby union players determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the disease.
Researchers also found that rugby players who have suffered repeated head injuries have physiological variations that may make them more susceptible to developing MND.
The MND Association acknowledges there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.
It noted that while the athletes researched were more likely to acquire MND, it did not show the sports directly caused the condition.
The charity also stresses that "documented MND cases in these studies is remains quite small, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misinterpreted if this is simply a grouping due to random chance".
Several high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the disease in the past few years.
This encompasses former rugby internationals, footballers, and cricket athletes.
In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease aged 39.
