What is MND and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?
Motor neurone disease impacts nerve cells located in the brain and spine, which tell your muscle tissue what to do.
This causes them to lose strength and stiffen over time and usually affects how you walk, talk, consume food and breathe.
This is a quite uncommon condition that is most frequent in people over 50, but grown-ups of all ages can be impacted.
An individual's chance in their life of contracting MND is 1 out of 300.
Approximately five thousand adults in the UK will have the disease at any given moment.
Scientists are uncertain what causes MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genes - or biological traits - you get from your mother and father when you are delivered, and additional environmental influences.
For up to one in 10 people with MND, specific genes play a much larger role.
Typically there is a hereditary background of the illness in such instances.
What are the First Signs of the Condition?
MND affects everyone differently.
Not all individuals has the identical signs, or encounters them in the same order.
The disease can advance at varying rates too.
Some of the most frequent indicators are:
- loss of muscle strength and cramps
- rigid articulations
- difficulties in how you speak
- issues with swallowing, consuming food and drinking
- weakened coughing
Is There a Treatment?
There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from therapies targeted at various types of MND.
MND is not a single illness - it is actually multiple that culminate in the demise of motor neurones.
A new drug called tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the symptoms of MND.
It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of optimism" for the whole disease.
Even though the drug 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 endorsed by the NHS.
Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the disease and prolong life by several months, but it does not reverse harm.
What is Life Expectancy for MND?
Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, such as renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.
But for most, the disease advances rapidly and survival time is only several years.
Based on the charity MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a third of individuals within a twelve months and more than half within two years of identification.
As the neurons stop working, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and many people need nutritional support or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive.
Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
The exact cause has not been identified, but top-level sportspeople seem disproportionately affected by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 indicated that professional footballers have an elevated chance of developing MND.
A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow including 400 former Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an increased risk of developing the disease.
Researchers additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered repeated head injuries have physiological variations that could render them more prone to contracting MND.
The MND Association recognizes there is a "link" between collision sports and MND.
It noted that while the athletes studied were more likely to develop MND, it did not prove the sports directly caused the disease.
The organization also emphasises that "documented MND cases in this research 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".
Several high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the condition in the past few years.
This encompasses ex- rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes.
In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig died from the disease at the age of 39.
