ð Share this article What is Motor Neurone Disease and Are Athletes At Higher Risk to Be Diagnosed? Motor neurone disease impacts nerves located in the cerebrum and spine, that instruct your muscle tissue what to do. This causes them to lose strength and become rigid over time and usually affects how you walk, talk, consume food and breathe. It is a quite uncommon condition that is most common in people above age fifty, but adults of all ages can be affected. A person's chance in their life of contracting MND is one in 300. Approximately 5,000 people in the UK are living with the disease at any one time. Scientists are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a mix of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your mother and father when you are delivered, and additional environmental influences. In as many as one in 10 people with MND, particular genetic factors are far more significant. There is usually 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 same symptoms, or experiences them in the identical sequence. The condition can progress at different speeds 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 weakened coughing Is There a Treatment? There is no cure, but there is optimism stemming from therapies focused on various types of MND. MND is not a single illness - it is really multiple that culminate in the death of motor neurones. A new drug known as tofersen works in just 2% of patients, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in certain instances even undo - some of the symptoms of MND. It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of optimism" for the whole disease. Although the drug has recently been approved in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK. There is only one drug presently approved for the treatment of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS. Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the condition and prolong life by several months, but it does not reverse harm. Determining Survival Rate for MND? Some people can survive for decades with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76. But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and survival time is just a few years. Based on the charity MND Association, the disease kills a one-third of people within a year and over 50% within two years of identification. As the neurons stop working, swallowing and respiration become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive. Are Athletes At Greater Risk to Receive a Diagnosis? The precise reason has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople appear overrepresented by MND. A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an increased risk of developing MND. Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow including four hundred former Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an increased risk of developing the disease. Scientists also found that rugby athletes who have experienced repeated head injuries have biological differences that could render them more prone to contracting MND. The MND Association recognizes there is a "link" between collision sports and MND. It added that while the sportspeople studied were had a greater chance to acquire MND, it did not show the sports directly caused the disease. The organization also stresses that "documented MND cases in this research is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misinterpreted if this is simply a grouping due to random chance". Multiple prominent athletes have been identified with the condition in recent years. These include former rugby union players, soccer players, and cricketers. Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition at the age of 39.