What is MND and Are Athletes More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
MND affects nerve cells located in the brain and spinal cord, that instruct your muscle tissue how to function.
This causes them to weaken and stiffen over time and typically impacts your walking, talk, consume food and breathe.
This is a relatively rare disease that is most frequent in people above age fifty, but grown-ups of any age can be impacted.
An individual's lifetime risk of contracting MND is 1 out of 300.
Approximately five thousand adults in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.
Scientists are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genetic material - or biological traits - you inherit from your parents when you are delivered, and other environmental influences.
In as many as 10% of individuals with MND, specific genes are far more significant.
There is usually a hereditary background of the illness in such instances.
What are the First Signs of the Disease?
MND affects everyone differently.
Not all individuals has the identical signs, or encounters them in the identical sequence.
The condition can progress at varying rates too.
Some of the most common indicators are:
- muscle weakness and cramps
- rigid articulations
- difficulties in how you speak
- issues with swallowing, consuming food and drinking
- reduced cough reflex
Does There Exist a Cure?
No definitive treatment, but there is hope coming from treatments targeted at various types of MND.
MND is not one disease - it is really several that culminate in the death of nerve cells.
An innovative medication called tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in certain instances even undo - a portion of the manifestations of MND.
It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of hope" for the whole disease.
Although the drug has recently received approval 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 endorsed by the NHS.
Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the disease and prolong life by several months, but it cannot repair harm.
Determining Life Expectancy for MND?
Certain individuals can live for many years with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the age of 22 and lived to 76.
But for most, the disease advances rapidly and life expectancy is only several years.
According to the non-profit MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a one-third of people within a year and more than half within 24 months of identification.
As the neurons cease functioning, ingestion and respiration become more challenging and many people need nutritional support or respiratory aids to help them remain living.
Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?
The exact cause has not yet been found, but elite athletes appear overrepresented by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that professional footballers have an increased risk of contracting MND.
Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University involving 400 former Scotland rugby union players concluded they had an higher likelihood of developing the disease.
Researchers also found that rugby players who have experienced repeated head injuries have physiological variations that may make them more susceptible to contracting 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 sports directly caused the condition.
The organization also emphasises that "documented MND instances in this research is remains quite small, and so determining there is a certain elevated chance could be misinterpreted if this is merely a grouping due to random chance".
Several high-profile sports figures have been identified with the disease in recent years.
These include ex- rugby players, footballers, and cricket athletes.
Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease at the age of 39.
