What is Motor Neurone Disease and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Be Diagnosed?
Motor neurone disease affects nerves found in the cerebrum and spinal cord, which tell your muscle tissue what to do.
This leads them to lose strength and become rigid gradually and usually affects how you walk, speak, consume food and respire.
This is a relatively rare condition that is most frequent in people over 50, but adults of any age can be impacted.
An individual's lifetime risk of contracting MND is one in 300.
Approximately 5,000 adults in the UK will have the condition at any given moment.
Researchers are uncertain 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 other environmental influences.
In as many as one in 10 people with MND, particular genetic factors are far more significant.
There is usually a family history of the illness in these cases.
What are the Early Symptoms of the Disease?
MND impacts each person uniquely.
Not everyone has the identical signs, or encounters them in the identical sequence.
The disease can progress at varying rates too.
Among the most frequent signs are:
- muscle weakness and muscle spasms
- stiff joints
- difficulties in how you speak
- complications involving swallowing, eating and taking fluids
- reduced cough reflex
Does There Exist a Treatment?
No definitive treatment, but there is hope coming from therapies targeted at different forms of MND.
MND is not one disease - it is actually several that culminate in the demise of nerve cells.
An innovative medication called tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been demonstrated to decelerate - and in certain instances even undo - some of the manifestations of MND.
It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of optimism" for the whole disease.
Even though the medication has recently been approved in the EU, it is not yet available in the UK.
Just one pharmaceutical currently licensed for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.
Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the condition and prolong life by a few 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 identified at the twenty-two years old and survived until 76.
But for most, the illness advances rapidly and survival time is only several years.
Based on the non-profit MND Association, the condition kills 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 more challenging and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them remain living.
Are Athletes More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
The exact cause has not been identified, but elite athletes appear overrepresented by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an increased risk of contracting MND.
A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow including four hundred ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the condition.
Scientists also found that rugby athletes who have suffered repeated head injuries have physiological variations that may make them more prone to developing MND.
The MND Association recognizes there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.
It noted that while the athletes researched were had a greater chance to develop MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly caused the disease.
The charity also stresses that "documented MND instances in these studies is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is simply a grouping due to statistical coincidence".
Several high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the disease in the past few years.
These include ex- rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricketers.
In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig died from the condition aged 39.