🔗 Share this article

MND impacts nerves located in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscles how to function.

This causes them to weaken and stiffen gradually and typically impacts how you walk, speak, eat and breathe.

It is a relatively rare disease that is most frequent in people over 50, but grown-ups of any age can be affected.

A person's lifetime risk of contracting MND is one in 300.

About 5,000 adults in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.

Researchers 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 additional lifestyle factors.

In as many as 10% of people with MND, specific genes are far more significant.

Typically there is a hereditary background of the illness in these cases.

Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Disease?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

Not all individuals has the same symptoms, or experiences them in the identical sequence.

The disease can advance at different speeds too.

Among the most frequent indicators are:

• muscle weakness and cramps
• stiff joints
• problems with how you speak
• issues with swallowing, eating and taking fluids
• weakened coughing

Does There Exist a Treatment?

No cure, but there is optimism coming from therapies focused on various types of MND.

MND is not a single illness - it is actually multiple that culminate in the death of motor neurones.

An innovative medication known as tofersen works in just 2% of patients, however it has been shown to slow - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the symptoms of MND.

It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "significant point of optimism" for the whole disease.

Even though the medication has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK.

Just one pharmaceutical currently licensed for the treatment of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.

Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the disease and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse damage.

Determining Life Expectancy for MND?

Some people can survive for decades with MND, including renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the twenty-two years old and survived until 76.

But for most, the disease advances rapidly and survival time is only several years.

Based on the charity MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a third of people within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of diagnosis.

As the neurons stop working, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need nutritional support or respiratory aids to help them remain living.

Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

The exact cause has not yet been found, but elite athletes seem overrepresented by MND.

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

A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow involving 400 ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an higher likelihood of developing the condition.

Scientists also found that rugby athletes who have experienced multiple concussions have physiological variations that could render them more susceptible to developing MND.

The MND Association recognizes there is a "link" between collision sports and MND.

It noted that while the athletes studied were more likely to develop MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly caused the disease.

The organization also emphasises that "reported MND cases in these studies is still relatively low, and so determining there is a certain elevated chance could be misinterpreted if this is simply a cluster due to random chance".

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

These include former rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricketers.

Across the Atlantic, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig died from the disease at the age of 39.