Understanding Motor Neurone Disease and Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
MND impacts nerve cells located in the brain and spinal cord, that instruct your muscle tissue what to do.
This causes them to weaken and stiffen over time and usually affects your walking, speak, eat and respire.
This is a quite uncommon condition that is most frequent in people above age fifty, but adults of any age can be impacted.
A person's lifetime risk of developing MND is 1 out of 300.
About five thousand people in the UK will have the disease at any given moment.
Scientists are not sure the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a mix of the genes - or biological traits - you inherit from your parents when you are delivered, and additional environmental influences.
In as many as one in 10 individuals with MND, particular genetic factors are far more significant.
There is usually a hereditary background of the disease in such instances.
What are the Early Symptoms of the Disease?
MND affects everyone differently.
Not everyone has the same symptoms, or encounters them in the identical sequence.
The disease can advance at different speeds too.
Among the most frequent indicators are:
- muscle weakness and cramps
- stiff joints
- problems with your speech
- issues with ingesting, consuming food and drinking
- reduced cough reflex
Does There Exist a Treatment?
There is no cure, but there is hope stemming from therapies targeted at different forms of MND.
MND is not one disease - it is actually several that culminate in the demise of motor neurones.
An innovative medication known as tofersen is effective in just 2% of individuals, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in certain instances even undo - some of the manifestations of MND.
It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of optimism" for the entire condition.
Although the drug has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK.
Just one drug currently licensed for the treatment of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.
Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the condition 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, such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and survived until 76.
But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and life expectancy is just a few years.
According to the charity MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a third of individuals within a twelve months and over 50% within two years of diagnosis.
As the neurons stop working, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.
Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
The exact cause has not yet been found, but elite athletes appear overrepresented by MND.
Two studies from 2005 and 2009 indicated that professional footballers have an increased risk of developing MND.
A 2022 study by the Glasgow University involving four hundred former Scotland rugby union players determined they had an increased risk of acquiring the condition.
Scientists additionally discovered that rugby athletes who have experienced repeated head injuries have physiological variations that may make them more prone to developing MND.
The MND Association acknowledges there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.
It added that while the sportspeople studied were more likely to acquire MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly caused the disease.
The organization also stresses that "documented MND cases in these studies is remains quite small, and so concluding there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is simply a cluster due to statistical coincidence".
Several prominent sports figures have been diagnosed with the condition in the past few years.
This encompasses former rugby internationals, soccer players, and cricketers.
In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease aged 39.