What is Motor Neurone Disease and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?
MND affects nerves found in the brain and spine, which tell your muscles how to function.
This causes them to weaken and stiffen over time and usually affects your walking, speak, consume food and breathe.
This is a quite uncommon condition that is most frequent in people over 50, but grown-ups of any age can be affected.
A person's lifetime risk of developing MND is one in 300.
About five thousand people in the UK will have the disease at any one time.
Researchers are uncertain what causes MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genes - or biological traits - you get from your parents when you are born, and additional environmental influences.
For up to 10% of people with MND, particular genetic factors play a much larger role.
Typically there is a hereditary background of the illness in these cases.
What are the Early Symptoms of the Condition?
MND affects everyone differently.
Not all individuals has the same symptoms, or experiences them in the same order.
The disease can progress at different speeds too.
Some of the most common indicators are:
- loss of muscle strength and muscle spasms
- stiff joints
- difficulties in your speech
- complications involving ingesting, consuming food and drinking
- weakened coughing
Is There a Cure?
No definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from treatments focused on various types of MND.
MND is not a single illness - it is actually several that culminate in the death of motor neurones.
An innovative medication known as tofersen is effective in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in certain instances even reverse - a portion of the symptoms of MND.
It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of optimism" for the entire condition.
Although the medication 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 advancement of the disease and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse harm.
Determining Survival Rate for MND?
Some people can live for many years with MND, including 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 life expectancy is only several years.
Based on the charity MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a third of individuals within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of diagnosis.
As the nerve cells stop working, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and many people need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive.
Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
The precise reason has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople appear disproportionately affected by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that professional footballers have an increased risk of contracting MND.
A 2022 study by the Glasgow University involving 400 ex- Scotland rugby union players concluded they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the disease.
Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have biological differences that may make them more susceptible to contracting MND.
The MND Association recognizes there is a "link" between contact sports and MND.
It noted that while the sportspeople researched were had a greater chance to develop MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly led to the condition.
The organization also stresses that "documented MND cases 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 statistical coincidence".
Multiple prominent athletes have been identified with the condition in recent years.
These include former rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricketers.
In the United States, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease at the age of 39.
