🔗 Share this article What is Motor Neurone Disease and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Be Diagnosed? Motor neurone disease impacts nerves located in the cerebrum and spine, that instruct your muscles what to do. This leads them to weaken and stiffen over time and typically impacts how you walk, speak, eat and breathe. It is a quite uncommon condition that is most frequent in people over 50, but adults of all ages can be affected. A person's chance in their life of developing MND is one in 300. Approximately five thousand adults in the UK will have the condition at any one time. Scientists are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genes - or biological traits - you get from your parents when you are born, and other environmental influences. In as many as one in 10 individuals with MND, particular genetic factors play a much larger role. Typically there is a family history of the disease in these cases. Identifying the First Signs of the Condition? MND affects everyone differently. Not all individuals has the same symptoms, or encounters them in the same order. The condition can advance at varying rates too. Some of the most frequent signs are: loss of muscle strength and muscle spasms stiff joints problems with your speech complications involving swallowing, consuming food and taking fluids reduced cough reflex Does There Exist a Cure? There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from therapies focused on various types of MND. MND is not a single illness - it is actually several that result in the death of motor neurones. A new drug called tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the manifestations of MND. It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of optimism" for the entire condition. Even though the drug has recently been approved in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK. Just one drug currently licensed for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS. Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the condition and prolong life by a few 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 most, the disease advances rapidly and life expectancy is just a few years. According to the charity MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a one-third of people within a year and over 50% within two years of diagnosis. As the nerve cells cease functioning, swallowing and breathing become more challenging and many people need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them remain living. Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed? 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 indicated that soccer players have an elevated chance of contracting MND. A 2022 study by the Glasgow University involving four hundred ex- Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the disease. Researchers additionally discovered that rugby athletes who have experienced repeated head injuries have physiological variations that may make them more prone to developing MND. The MND Association acknowledges there is a "link" between collision sports and MND. It added that while the athletes studied were more likely to develop MND, it did not show the sports directly led to the disease. The organization also stresses that "reported MND cases in this research is remains quite small, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is merely a grouping due to statistical coincidence". Multiple prominent athletes have been identified with the condition in the past few years. These include former rugby union players, soccer players, and cricket athletes. Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease at the age of 39.