Understanding MND and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?
Motor neurone disease affects nerves located in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscle tissue what to do.
This causes them to weaken and stiffen gradually and usually affects how you walk, speak, consume food and breathe.
It is a quite uncommon condition that is most frequent in individuals above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be affected.
An individual's chance in their life of contracting MND is one in 300.
Approximately 5,000 adults in the UK will have the disease at any given moment.
Scientists are uncertain what causes MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genes - or biological traits - you inherit from your mother and father when you are born, and other environmental influences.
For up to one in 10 individuals with MND, particular genetic factors play a much larger role.
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 identical signs, or experiences them in the same order.
The disease can progress at varying rates too.
Some of the most frequent indicators are:
- loss of muscle strength and cramps
- rigid articulations
- difficulties in your speech
- issues with ingesting, consuming food and drinking
- reduced cough reflex
Does There Exist a Cure?
There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope coming from treatments focused on different forms of MND.
MND is not one disease - it is really several that culminate in the death of motor neurones.
An innovative medication known as tofersen is effective in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been shown to slow - and in certain instances even undo - some of the manifestations of MND.
It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of optimism" for the whole disease.
Even though the drug has recently received approval in the EU, it is not yet available in the UK.
Just one drug currently licensed for the treatment of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.
Riluzole could decelerate the progression of the condition and prolong life by a few months, but it does not reverse damage.
What is Survival Rate for MND?
Certain individuals can live for many years with MND, including renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and survived until 76.
But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and survival time is just a few years.
Based on the non-profit MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a one-third of people within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of diagnosis.
As the neurons cease functioning, ingestion and respiration become more challenging and many people need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.
Do Sports Professionals At Greater Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?
The precise reason has not been identified, but top-level sportspeople appear overrepresented by MND.
A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an elevated chance of developing MND.
A 2022 study by the Glasgow University involving four hundred former Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an increased risk of acquiring the disease.
Scientists additionally discovered that rugby athletes who have experienced repeated head injuries have biological differences that could render them more susceptible to developing 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 acquire MND, it did not show the sports directly led to the condition.
The organization also stresses that "reported MND cases in this research is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a definite increased risk could be misunderstood if this is merely a grouping due to statistical coincidence".
Multiple high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the condition in the past few years.
This encompasses former rugby union players, soccer players, and cricket athletes.
In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition at the age of 39.
