Understanding Motor Neurone Disease and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?
MND affects nerve cells located in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscles how to function.
This causes them to weaken and become rigid over time and usually affects how you walk, speak, consume food and breathe.
It is a quite uncommon condition that is most frequent in people above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be impacted.
An individual's lifetime risk of contracting MND is 1 out of 300.
Approximately five thousand adults in the UK will have the disease at any one time.
Scientists are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you get from your parents when you are delivered, and other environmental influences.
For up to 10% of people with MND, specific genes play a much larger role.
There is usually a family history of the illness in these cases.
Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Condition?
MND affects everyone differently.
Not everyone has the identical signs, or encounters them in the same order.
The condition can advance at varying rates too.
Among the most frequent indicators are:
- loss of muscle strength and cramps
- rigid articulations
- difficulties in how you speak
- complications involving ingesting, eating and drinking
- weakened coughing
Does There Exist a Cure?
There is no cure, but there is hope coming from treatments targeted at various types of MND.
MND is not a single illness - it is really several that culminate in the death of motor neurones.
A new drug known as tofersen is effective in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in some cases even undo - some of the manifestations of MND.
It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of optimism" for the entire condition.
Although the drug has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not currently accessible in the UK.
There is only one pharmaceutical currently licensed 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 does not reverse damage.
What is Life Expectancy for MND?
Some people can survive for decades with MND, such as renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.
But for the majority, the disease advances rapidly and survival time is only several years.
Based on the charity MND Association, the disease kills a third of individuals within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of diagnosis.
As the neurons cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them remain living.
Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed?
The exact cause has not yet been found, but elite athletes appear disproportionately affected by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an elevated chance of developing MND.
Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow involving four hundred former Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the disease.
Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have physiological variations that may make them more susceptible to contracting MND.
The MND Association acknowledges there is a "link" between collision sports and MND.
It noted that while the athletes studied were had a greater chance to acquire MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly led to the condition.
The charity also emphasises that "reported MND cases in this research is remains quite small, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is merely a cluster due to random chance".
Several prominent athletes have been diagnosed with the condition in the past few years.
This encompasses former rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricket athletes.
In the United States, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition aged 39.
