Understanding MND and Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
Motor neurone disease impacts nerves located in the cerebrum and spine, that instruct your muscle tissue how to function.
This leads them to lose strength and stiffen over time and usually affects how you walk, speak, eat and breathe.
This is a quite uncommon disease that is most frequent in people above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be affected.
A person's lifetime risk of developing MND is 1 out of 300.
About five thousand adults in the UK will have the condition at any one time.
Researchers are uncertain what causes MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genes - or biological traits - you inherit from your parents when you are delivered, and additional lifestyle factors.
For up to 10% of 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 same symptoms, or encounters them in the same order.
The condition can progress at varying rates too.
Among the most frequent indicators are:
- muscle weakness and muscle spasms
- stiff joints
- difficulties in how you speak
- issues with swallowing, consuming food and taking fluids
- reduced cough reflex
Is There a Cure?
No cure, but there is hope coming from treatments focused on various types of MND.
MND is not a single illness - it is actually several that culminate in the death of nerve cells.
A new drug called tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in some cases even undo - some of the manifestations of MND.
It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of hope" for the whole disease.
Although the drug has recently been approved in the EU, it is not currently accessible in the UK.
Just one pharmaceutical currently licensed for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.
Riluzole may slow down the progression of the condition and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse damage.
Determining Life Expectancy for MND?
Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the twenty-two years old and survived until 76.
But for most, the disease progresses quickly and life expectancy is just a few years.
According to the non-profit MND Association, the disease kills a one-third of people within a year and more than half within two years of identification.
As the nerve cells cease functioning, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need nutritional support or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive.
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 indicated that professional footballers have an elevated chance of developing MND.
Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University involving four hundred ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an higher likelihood of developing the disease.
Researchers additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have physiological variations that may make them more prone to contracting MND.
The MND Association acknowledges there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.
It noted that while the sportspeople researched were had a greater chance to develop MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly led to the disease.
The organization also emphasises that "reported MND cases in this research is still relatively low, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misunderstood if this is merely a cluster due to random chance".
Multiple high-profile athletes have been diagnosed with the condition in recent years.
These include ex- rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricketers.
In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition at the age of 39.
