🔗 Share this article What is MND and Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed? Motor neurone disease impacts nerves located in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscles what to do. This leads them to lose strength and become rigid gradually and typically impacts how you walk, talk, eat and breathe. It is a quite uncommon disease that is most frequent in individuals above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be affected. An individual's chance in their life of developing MND is one in 300. Approximately five thousand adults in the UK will have the condition at any one time. Scientists are not sure what causes MND, but it is likely to be a mix of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your parents when you are born, and additional lifestyle factors. In as many as one in 10 individuals with MND, specific genes are far more significant. There is usually a hereditary background of the illness in such instances. What are the Early Symptoms of the Disease? MND impacts each person uniquely. Not all individuals has the same symptoms, or experiences them in the same order. The disease can advance at different speeds too. Some of the most frequent indicators are: muscle weakness and cramps stiff joints difficulties in how you speak complications involving swallowing, eating and taking fluids weakened coughing Does There Exist a Treatment? No cure, but there is optimism coming from treatments targeted at different forms of MND. MND is not one disease - it is actually multiple that result in the demise of nerve cells. An innovative medication known as tofersen is effective in just 2% of individuals, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in certain instances even reverse - some of the manifestations of MND. It has been described as "truly remarkable" and a "significant point of hope" for the entire condition. Even though the medication has recently been approved 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 prolong life by a few months, but it cannot repair harm. Determining Life Expectancy for MND? Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the age of 22 and survived until 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 people within a year and more than half within two years of identification. As the nerve cells cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become increasingly difficult and many people need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them remain living. Do Sports Professionals At Greater Risk to Receive a Diagnosis? The exact cause has not been identified, but elite athletes seem overrepresented by MND. Two studies from 2005 and 2009 indicated that soccer players have an increased risk of developing MND. Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University involving 400 former Scotland rugby union players concluded they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the condition. Scientists additionally discovered 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 collision sports and MND. It noted that while the sportspeople studied were more likely to develop MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly led to the disease. The organization also emphasises that "reported MND instances in this research 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 high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the disease in the past few years. These include ex- rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes. Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the disease at the age of 39.