Understanding MND and Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
Motor neurone disease affects nerves found in the brain and spinal cord, that instruct your muscle tissue what to do.
This causes them to lose strength and stiffen over time and typically impacts how you walk, talk, eat and breathe.
This is a relatively rare condition that is most common in people above age fifty, but adults of any age can be impacted.
A person's chance in their life of developing MND is 1 out of 300.
Approximately five thousand people in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.
Researchers are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you get from your parents when you are born, and other environmental influences.
For up to 10% of individuals with MND, particular genetic factors are far more significant.
Typically there is a hereditary background of the disease in such instances.
What are the First Signs of the Condition?
MND impacts each person uniquely.
Not everyone has the same symptoms, or encounters them in the same order.
The disease can advance at varying rates too.
Among the most frequent indicators are:
- muscle weakness and cramps
- stiff joints
- problems with how you speak
- issues with ingesting, eating and drinking
- weakened coughing
Does There Exist a Treatment?
There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope coming from treatments focused on various types of MND.
MND is not a single illness - it is really multiple that culminate in the death of nerve cells.
An innovative medication known as tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been demonstrated to decelerate - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the symptoms of MND.
It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of hope" for the whole disease.
Even though the medication has recently been approved in the EU, it is not yet available in the UK.
There is only one drug presently approved for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.
Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the disease and increase survival by a few months, but it cannot repair damage.
Determining Life Expectancy for MND?
Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.
But for most, the disease advances rapidly and life expectancy is only several years.
According to the charity MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a third of people within a twelve months and over 50% within two years of identification.
As the nerve cells stop working, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and many people need nutritional support or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive.
Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
The precise reason has not been identified, but elite athletes seem overrepresented by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an increased risk of developing MND.
Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University involving four hundred former Scotland rugby union players concluded they had an increased risk of acquiring the disease.
Scientists additionally discovered that rugby athletes who have suffered repeated head injuries have biological differences that could render them more susceptible to developing MND.
The MND Association acknowledges there is a "link" between contact sports and MND.
It noted that while the sportspeople researched were had a greater chance to acquire MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly led to the condition.
The organization also stresses that "reported MND instances in these studies is still relatively low, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misunderstood if this is simply a cluster due to statistical coincidence".
Multiple high-profile athletes have been diagnosed with the condition in recent years.
These include former rugby internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes.
Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the condition aged 39.
