🔗 Share this article What is MND and Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed? Motor neurone disease impacts nerve cells located in the cerebrum and spinal cord, that instruct your muscle tissue what to do. This causes them to lose strength and stiffen over time and typically impacts your walking, talk, consume food and breathe. It is a relatively rare disease that is most common in people above age fifty, but adults of any age can be affected. A person's lifetime risk of contracting MND is one in 300. Approximately 5,000 people in the UK will have the condition at any one time. Researchers are not sure what causes MND, but it is probable to be a combination of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your mother and father when you are born, and additional lifestyle factors. In as many as one in 10 individuals with MND, particular genetic factors play a much larger role. There is usually a family history of the illness in such instances. What are the Early Symptoms of the Disease? MND impacts each person uniquely. Not all individuals has the identical signs, or encounters them in the identical sequence. The condition can advance at varying rates too. Some of the most common indicators are: muscle weakness and cramps stiff joints difficulties in your speech complications involving ingesting, consuming food and drinking weakened coughing Is There a Treatment? There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope coming from therapies focused on various types of MND. MND is not a single illness - it is actually several that result in the demise of nerve cells. A new drug called tofersen works in only one in 50 patients, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in certain instances even undo - a portion of the symptoms of MND. It has been described as "truly remarkable" and a "real moment of optimism" for the whole disease. Although the drug has recently received approval in the EU, it is not yet available in the UK. There is only one pharmaceutical presently approved for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS. Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the condition and increase survival by several months, but it cannot repair damage. Determining Survival Rate for MND? Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and survived until 76. But for most, the disease progresses quickly and life expectancy is only several years. Based on the charity MND Association, the disease kills a one-third of people within a twelve months and over 50% within 24 months of diagnosis. As the nerve cells stop working, swallowing and breathing become more challenging 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 elite athletes appear disproportionately affected by MND. A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 indicated that soccer players have an increased risk of contracting MND. Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow including four hundred ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an increased risk of developing the condition. Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have experienced multiple concussions have biological differences that could render them more susceptible to contracting MND. The MND Association acknowledges there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND. It noted that while the sportspeople studied were had a greater chance to develop MND, it did not show the sports directly led to the disease. The organization also stresses that "reported MND instances in these studies 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 high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the disease in the past few years. These include former rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes. Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition aged 39.