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MND affects nerve cells located in the brain and spine, which tell your muscle tissue what to do.

This leads them to lose strength and stiffen over time and usually affects your walking, speak, eat and respire.

This is a relatively rare condition that is most frequent in individuals above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be affected.

A person's lifetime risk of contracting MND is 1 out of 300.

Approximately 5,000 adults in the UK are living with the condition at any one time.

Researchers are not sure what causes MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your parents when you are born, and additional lifestyle factors.

For up to 10% of individuals with MND, specific genes are far more significant.

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

What are the Early Symptoms of the Disease?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

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

The disease can advance at varying rates too.

Some of the most common signs are:

• loss of muscle strength and cramps
• rigid articulations
• problems with how you speak
• complications involving ingesting, consuming food and taking fluids
• reduced cough reflex

Is There a Cure?

No cure, but there is hope coming from therapies targeted at different forms of MND.

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

An innovative medication known as tofersen works in just 2% of individuals, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in some cases even undo - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

It has been referred to as "truly remarkable" and a "real moment of hope" for the whole disease.

Even though the medication has recently been approved in the European Union, it is not currently accessible 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 progression of the condition and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse harm.

What is Life Expectancy for MND?

Some people can live for many years with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.

But for the majority, the illness progresses quickly and survival time is just a few years.

Based on the non-profit MND Association, the disease kills a third of people within a twelve months and more than half within two years of identification.

As the neurons stop working, ingestion and breathing become more challenging and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.

Do Sports Professionals At Greater Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?

The precise reason has not yet been found, but elite athletes seem overrepresented by MND.

Two studies from 2005 and 2009 indicated that soccer players have an increased risk of developing MND.

Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow involving four hundred ex- Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an higher likelihood of developing the disease.

Scientists also found that rugby athletes who have suffered multiple concussions have biological differences that may make them more prone to developing MND.

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

It added that while the sportspeople researched were more likely to acquire MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly caused the condition.

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

Multiple prominent athletes have been diagnosed with the disease in the past few years.

These include former rugby internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes.

Across the Atlantic, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease at the age of 39.