đ Share this article Understanding MND and Do Sportspeople At Higher Risk to Be Diagnosed? MND affects nerve cells located in the brain and spinal cord, which tell your muscles what to do. This leads them to lose strength and stiffen gradually and usually affects how you walk, speak, eat and respire. This is a quite uncommon condition that is most common in individuals above age fifty, but adults of all ages can be affected. An individual's lifetime risk of developing MND is 1 out of 300. Approximately 5,000 people in the UK will have the condition at any given moment. Scientists are not sure the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a combination of the genes - or biological traits - you inherit from your parents when you are born, and additional environmental influences. For up to 10% of individuals with MND, specific genes play a much larger role. There is usually a family history of the illness in such instances. Identifying the First Signs of the Condition? MND impacts each person uniquely. Not everyone has the identical signs, or experiences them in the same order. The disease can advance at different speeds too. Some of the most frequent indicators are: loss of muscle strength and cramps rigid articulations problems with your speech issues with swallowing, consuming food and taking fluids weakened coughing Is There a Treatment? There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope coming from therapies focused on different forms of MND. MND is not a single illness - it is actually multiple that culminate in the demise of motor neurones. A new drug called tofersen is effective in just 2% of patients, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the manifestations of MND. It has been referred to as "truly remarkable" and a "significant point of hope" for the entire condition. Even though the medication has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK. Just one drug presently approved for the management of MND in the UK and endorsed 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 Survival Rate for MND? Some people can survive for decades with MND, including renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and lived to 76. But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and survival time is just a few years. According to the non-profit MND Association, the disease kills a third of individuals within a twelve months and more than half within two years of identification. As the neurons stop working, swallowing and respiration become increasingly difficult and many people need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them remain living. Do Sports Professionals At Greater Risk to Receive a Diagnosis? The precise reason has not yet been found, but elite athletes appear disproportionately affected by MND. A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that professional footballers have an increased risk of developing MND. Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow including four hundred former Scotland rugby union players determined they had an increased risk of acquiring the condition. Researchers also found that rugby players who have experienced repeated head injuries have physiological variations that could render them more susceptible to contracting MND. The MND Association recognizes there is a "link" between contact sports and MND. It noted that while the sportspeople studied were more likely to acquire MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly caused the disease. The charity also emphasises that "reported MND cases in this research is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is simply a grouping due to random chance". Several high-profile sports figures have been identified with the disease in the past few years. These include former rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricketers. In the United States, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the condition aged 39.