What is Motor Neurone Disease and Are Athletes More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
MND impacts nerve cells located in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscles how to function.
This causes them to lose strength and become rigid over time and typically impacts your walking, talk, consume food and breathe.
This is a quite uncommon condition that is most common in individuals over 50, but adults of all ages can be impacted.
An individual's chance in their life of contracting MND is one in 300.
Approximately 5,000 adults in the UK will have the disease at any one time.
Researchers are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a mix of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your parents when you are delivered, and other lifestyle factors.
In as many as 10% of 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 Disease?
MND impacts each person uniquely.
Not all individuals has the identical signs, or experiences them in the identical sequence.
The condition can progress at different speeds too.
Some of the most frequent indicators are:
- muscle weakness and muscle spasms
- rigid articulations
- difficulties in your speech
- issues with swallowing, consuming food and drinking
- reduced cough reflex
Is There a Treatment?
There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from treatments targeted at different forms of MND.
MND is not a single illness - it is actually multiple that culminate in the death of nerve cells.
An innovative medication called tofersen works 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 "real moment of hope" for the whole disease.
Although the drug has recently been approved in the European Union, it is not currently accessible in the UK.
Just one pharmaceutical presently approved for the treatment of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.
Riluzole could decelerate the progression of the disease and prolong life by a few months, but it does not reverse damage.
Determining Life Expectancy for MND?
Some people can live for many years with MND, such as renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.
But for most, the disease advances rapidly and survival time is just a few years.
Based on the charity MND Association, the condition kills a one-third of people within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of identification.
As the neurons cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and numerous individuals need nutritional support or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive.
Do Sports Professionals At Greater Risk to Be Diagnosed?
The precise reason has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople seem overrepresented by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 indicated that professional footballers have an elevated chance of developing MND.
Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University involving four hundred former Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an increased risk of developing the disease.
Scientists additionally discovered that rugby athletes who have suffered multiple concussions have physiological variations that could render them more prone to developing MND.
The MND Association recognizes there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.
It noted that while the sportspeople researched were more likely to acquire MND, it did not prove the sports directly caused the disease.
The charity also emphasises that "reported MND cases in these studies is remains quite small, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is merely a cluster due to statistical coincidence".
Several high-profile athletes have been diagnosed with the condition in recent years.
These include ex- rugby internationals, soccer players, and cricketers.
In the United States, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the condition aged 39.
