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MND affects nerves found in the cerebrum and spinal cord, which tell your muscles how to function.

This causes them to lose strength and stiffen gradually and usually affects how you walk, talk, consume food and breathe.

It is a relatively rare disease that is most common in people above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be affected.

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

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

Scientists are uncertain what causes MND, but it is likely to be a mix of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your mother and father when you are born, and additional lifestyle factors.

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

Typically there is a family history of the illness in these cases.

What are the Early Symptoms of the Condition?

MND affects everyone differently.

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

The disease can progress at different speeds too.

Some of the most frequent signs are:

• loss of muscle strength and muscle spasms
• stiff joints
• difficulties in your speech
• issues with swallowing, eating and taking fluids
• reduced cough reflex

Is There a Treatment?

No definitive treatment, 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 demise of nerve cells.

An innovative medication called tofersen is effective in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in certain instances even undo - some of the symptoms of MND.

It has been described 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.

There is only one pharmaceutical presently approved for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.

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

Determining Life Expectancy for MND?

Certain individuals 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 the majority, the illness advances rapidly and life expectancy is only several years.

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

As the neurons cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.

Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?

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

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

Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow involving four hundred former Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an increased risk of acquiring the condition.

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

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

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

The charity also emphasises that "documented MND cases in this research is remains quite small, and so determining there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is simply a grouping due to statistical coincidence".

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

This encompasses former rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricket athletes.

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