Understanding Motor Neurone Disease and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Be Diagnosed?
MND impacts nerve cells found in the brain and spine, which tell your muscles how to function.
This leads them to weaken and stiffen over time and typically impacts your walking, talk, consume food and breathe.
It is a relatively rare condition that is most common in individuals above age fifty, but adults of all ages can be affected.
A person's lifetime risk of contracting MND is one in 300.
Approximately 5,000 adults in the UK will have the disease at any given moment.
Researchers are not sure the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a combination of the genes - or biological traits - you inherit from your mother and father when you are delivered, and additional environmental influences.
In as many as one in 10 people with MND, particular genetic factors are far more significant.
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 encounters them in the same order.
The condition can progress at different speeds too.
Some of the most frequent signs are:
- muscle weakness and cramps
- rigid articulations
- problems with how you speak
- complications involving swallowing, eating and taking fluids
- reduced cough reflex
Is There a Treatment?
No definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from therapies focused on various types of MND.
MND is not one disease - it is really several that result in the death of nerve cells.
An innovative medication known as tofersen works in only one in 50 patients, however it has been demonstrated to decelerate - and in some cases even undo - a portion of the symptoms of MND.
It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of optimism" for the entire condition.
Even though the medication has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK.
Just one pharmaceutical presently approved for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.
Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the condition and increase survival by several months, but it cannot repair harm.
What is Survival Rate for MND?
Certain individuals can live for many years with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and lived to 76.
But for most, the illness advances rapidly and survival time is only several years.
Based on the charity MND Association, the disease kills a one-third of people within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of identification.
As the nerve cells stop working, swallowing and respiration become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.
Are Athletes More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
The precise reason has not been identified, but elite athletes appear overrepresented by MND.
Two studies from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an increased risk of developing MND.
A 2022 study by the Glasgow University including 400 ex- Scotland rugby union players determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the disease.
Researchers additionally discovered that rugby athletes who have experienced repeated head injuries have biological differences that may make them more susceptible to developing MND.
The MND Association recognizes there is a "link" between contact sports and MND.
It added that while the athletes studied were had a greater chance to develop MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly caused the condition.
The charity also stresses that "reported 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 cluster due to statistical coincidence".
Several high-profile athletes have been identified with the condition in the past few years.
This encompasses former rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes.
Across the Atlantic, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig died from the condition at the age of 39.
