Understanding MND and Are Athletes At Higher Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?
Motor neurone disease affects nerve cells located in the cerebrum and spinal cord, which tell your muscle tissue how to function.
This leads them to weaken and stiffen gradually and usually affects your walking, talk, consume food and breathe.
It is a relatively rare disease that is most frequent in individuals above age fifty, but adults of any age can be affected.
A person's chance in their life of developing MND is 1 out of 300.
About 5,000 adults in the UK are living with the condition at any given moment.
Scientists are not sure the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a combination of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you get from your parents when you are delivered, and other environmental influences.
In as many as 10% of people with MND, particular genetic factors are far more significant.
Typically there is a hereditary background of the illness in such instances.
Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Condition?
MND affects everyone differently.
Not all individuals has the identical signs, or experiences them in the identical sequence.
The disease can advance at different speeds too.
Some of the most frequent indicators are:
- muscle weakness and muscle spasms
- rigid articulations
- difficulties in your speech
- issues with swallowing, consuming food and taking fluids
- weakened coughing
Is There a Treatment?
No definitive treatment, 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 nerve cells.
An innovative medication called tofersen works in just 2% of individuals, however it has been shown to slow - and in certain instances even reverse - a portion of the symptoms of MND.
It has been described as "truly remarkable" and a "real moment of hope" for the entire condition.
Even though the medication has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK.
There is only one pharmaceutical currently licensed for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.
Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the condition and increase survival 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 identified at the age of 22 and survived until 76.
But for most, the disease progresses quickly and life expectancy is just a few years.
According to the non-profit MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a one-third of people within a twelve months and over 50% within 24 months of identification.
As the nerve cells cease functioning, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need nutritional support or breathing apparatus to help them remain living.
Are Athletes At Greater Risk to Be Diagnosed?
The precise reason has not been identified, but elite athletes seem overrepresented by MND.
Two studies from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an increased risk of developing MND.
A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow including four hundred ex- Scotland rugby union players determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the condition.
Scientists also found that rugby players who have experienced repeated head injuries have physiological variations that could render them more susceptible to contracting MND.
The MND Association acknowledges there is a "link" between contact sports and MND.
It added that while the sportspeople studied were more likely to acquire MND, it did not show the sports directly caused the condition.
The charity also emphasises that "documented 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".
Several prominent sports figures have been identified with the disease in recent years.
This encompasses former rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes.
Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition at the age of 39.
