🔗 Share this article

MND impacts nerves found in the cerebrum and spinal cord, that instruct your muscles how to function.

This causes them to weaken and stiffen over time and typically impacts your walking, talk, eat and respire.

This is a quite uncommon disease that is most common in individuals above age fifty, but adults of all ages can be affected.

An individual's chance in their life of contracting MND is 1 out of 300.

Approximately 5,000 people in the UK will have the disease at any one time.

Researchers are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you get from your mother and father when you are delivered, and additional environmental influences.

In as many as 10% of people with MND, specific genes play a much larger role.

There is usually a family history of the disease in such instances.

What are the Early Symptoms of the Disease?

MND affects everyone differently.

Not everyone has the identical signs, 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
• stiff joints
• problems with how you speak
• issues with ingesting, eating and taking fluids
• weakened coughing

Is There a Treatment?

No definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from treatments focused on different forms of MND.

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

A new drug called tofersen works in just 2% of individuals, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in some cases even undo - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" 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 currently accessible 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 disease and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse damage.

What is Life Expectancy for MND?

Some people can survive for decades with MND, such as renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.

But for most, the illness progresses quickly and life expectancy is just a few years.

According to the non-profit MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a one-third of individuals within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of diagnosis.

As the neurons cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and many people need nutritional support or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.

Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

The exact cause has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople seem disproportionately affected by MND.

A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that professional footballers have an elevated chance of contracting MND.

A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow involving 400 former Scotland rugby union players determined they had an increased risk of acquiring the condition.

Researchers additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered repeated head injuries have biological differences that may make them more prone to developing MND.

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

It added that while the athletes researched were more likely to develop MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly led to the disease.

The charity also stresses that "reported MND cases in this research is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is merely a grouping due to random chance".

Multiple prominent athletes have been identified with the condition in the past few years.

This encompasses former rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricketers.

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