🔗 Share this article

MND affects nerve cells located in the brain and spinal cord, which tell your muscle tissue how to function.

This leads them to weaken and stiffen gradually and usually affects your walking, speak, eat and respire.

This is a quite uncommon disease that is most frequent in individuals over 50, but adults of all ages can be impacted.

An individual's lifetime risk of contracting MND is one in 300.

Approximately five thousand adults in the UK are living with the condition at any one time.

Researchers are not sure the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a combination of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you get from your parents when you are delivered, and additional environmental influences.

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

There is usually a hereditary background of the illness in such instances.

What are the Early Symptoms of the Condition?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

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

The condition can advance at varying rates too.

Some of the most frequent signs are:

• muscle weakness and muscle spasms
• stiff joints
• problems with your speech
• issues with ingesting, consuming food and drinking
• weakened coughing

Is There a Treatment?

No cure, but there is hope stemming from treatments targeted at various types of MND.

MND is not one disease - it is really multiple that culminate in the demise of nerve cells.

An innovative medication known as tofersen works in only one in 50 patients, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in certain instances even reverse - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

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

Although the medication has recently been approved in the EU, it is not yet available in the UK.

There is only one drug currently licensed for the treatment of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.

Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the disease and prolong life by several months, but it cannot repair harm.

What is Life Expectancy for MND?

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

But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and survival time is only several years.

According to the non-profit MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of identification.

As the nerve cells cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and many people need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.

Are Athletes At Greater Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?

The exact cause has not yet been found, but elite athletes appear disproportionately affected by MND.

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

Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University involving four hundred ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the condition.

Scientists additionally discovered that rugby athletes who have suffered multiple concussions have biological differences that could render them more susceptible to developing MND.

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

It added that while the sportspeople studied were more likely to develop MND, it did not prove the sports directly led to the condition.

The organization also emphasises that "documented MND cases in these studies is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a definite increased risk could be misunderstood if this is merely a cluster due to statistical coincidence".

Multiple prominent sports figures have been diagnosed with the condition in recent years.

These include ex- rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricketers.

In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig died from the condition at the age of 39.