Understanding MND and Are Athletes More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
MND impacts nerve cells located in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscle tissue what to do.
This leads them to weaken and become rigid gradually and usually affects how you walk, talk, eat and respire.
It is a relatively rare condition that is most frequent in people above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be affected.
An individual's lifetime risk of developing MND is 1 out of 300.
About 5,000 adults in the UK will have the condition at any one time.
Researchers are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genetic material - or biological traits - you get from your mother and father when you are delivered, and other environmental influences.
In as many as one in 10 individuals with MND, specific genes are far more significant.
Typically there is a hereditary background of the illness in such instances.
What are the First Signs of the Disease?
MND impacts each person uniquely.
Not everyone has the identical signs, or encounters them in the same order.
The disease can progress at different speeds too.
Among the most frequent indicators are:
- loss of muscle strength and cramps
- rigid articulations
- difficulties in how you speak
- issues with swallowing, eating and taking fluids
- weakened coughing
Is There a Cure?
No cure, but there is optimism stemming from therapies focused on different forms of MND.
MND is not a single illness - it is really multiple that result in the death of motor neurones.
A new drug called tofersen is effective in just 2% of individuals, however it has been demonstrated to decelerate - and in certain instances even reverse - some of the manifestations of MND.
It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of optimism" for the entire condition.
Even though the medication has recently received approval in the EU, it is not yet available in the UK.
Just one pharmaceutical presently approved for the treatment of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.
Riluzole could decelerate the progression of the condition and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse harm.
Determining Survival Rate 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 progresses quickly and life expectancy is only several years.
According to the charity MND Association, the disease kills a third of individuals within a year and over 50% within two years of identification.
As the nerve cells cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and numerous individuals need nutritional support or respiratory aids to help them remain living.
Do Sports Professionals At Greater Risk to Be Diagnosed?
The exact cause has not been identified, but top-level sportspeople appear overrepresented by MND.
Two studies from 2005 and 2009 showed that professional footballers have an elevated chance of contracting MND.
Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow including 400 former Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the condition.
Researchers also found that rugby players who have experienced repeated head injuries have physiological variations that could render them more prone to contracting MND.
The MND Association acknowledges there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.
It added that while the athletes studied were had a greater chance to acquire MND, it did not show the sports directly led to the condition.
The organization also emphasises that "documented MND cases in these studies is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misinterpreted if this is simply a grouping due to statistical coincidence".
Several prominent athletes have been identified with the condition in recent years.
This encompasses former rugby union players, footballers, and cricketers.
Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition at the age of 39.
