What is MND and Are Athletes At Higher Risk to Be Diagnosed?

MND impacts nerve cells found in the brain and spinal cord, that instruct your muscles what to do.

This causes them to weaken and stiffen gradually and usually affects how you walk, talk, eat and respire.

This is a relatively rare disease that is most frequent in individuals over 50, but grown-ups of any age can be impacted.

An individual's chance in their life of developing MND is one in 300.

About five thousand adults in the UK are living with the disease at any one time.

Researchers are not sure the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your mother and father when you are born, and additional environmental influences.

For up to one in 10 people with MND, specific genes play a much larger role.

Typically there is a hereditary background of the disease in such instances.

What are the Early Symptoms of the Condition?

MND affects everyone differently.

Not everyone has the same symptoms, or encounters them in the same order.

The disease can progress at different speeds too.

Some of the most frequent indicators are:

• loss of muscle strength and cramps
• rigid articulations
• difficulties in how you speak
• complications involving swallowing, eating and taking fluids
• weakened coughing

Does There Exist a Treatment?

No cure, but there is hope stemming from therapies focused on various types of MND.

MND is not one disease - it is actually several that result in the death of motor neurones.

An innovative medication known as tofersen is effective in just 2% of patients, however it has been demonstrated to decelerate - and in some cases even reverse - some of the symptoms of MND.

It has been described as "truly remarkable" and a "real moment of optimism" for the entire condition.

Although the drug has recently received approval in the EU, it is not yet available in the UK.

Just one drug presently approved for the management of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.

Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the disease and increase survival by several months, but it cannot repair harm.

What is Survival Rate for MND?

Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and survived until 76.

But for most, the disease advances rapidly and survival time is just a few years.

Based on the non-profit MND Association, the disease kills a third of individuals within a year and over 50% within two years of identification.

As the nerve cells cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need nutritional support or respiratory aids to help them remain living.

Do Sports Professionals At Greater Risk to Be Diagnosed?

The exact cause has not been identified, but elite athletes seem disproportionately affected 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 400 former Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an higher likelihood of developing the condition.

Scientists also found that rugby athletes who have suffered repeated head injuries have physiological variations that could render them more prone to developing MND.

The MND Association recognizes there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.

It noted that while the athletes studied were more likely to acquire MND, it did not prove the sports directly led to the disease.

The charity also stresses that "reported MND cases in these studies is remains quite small, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is merely a cluster due to statistical coincidence".

Multiple high-profile athletes have been diagnosed with the condition in the past few years.

These include former rugby union players, footballers, and cricketers.

Across the Atlantic, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition aged 39.