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Motor neurone disease affects nerve cells located in the cerebrum and spinal cord, that instruct your muscles what to do.

This leads them to lose strength and stiffen over time and typically impacts your walking, talk, consume food and breathe.

This is a relatively rare condition that is most common in individuals above age fifty, but adults of all ages can be affected.

An individual's lifetime risk of contracting MND is 1 out of 300.

Approximately five thousand people in the UK will have the condition at any one time.

Researchers are not sure the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you get from your parents when you are born, and other environmental influences.

For up to one in 10 people with MND, specific genes are far more significant.

There is usually a family history of the disease in such instances.

Identifying the First Signs of the Disease?

MND affects everyone differently.

Not all individuals has the identical signs, or experiences them in the same order.

The condition can progress at varying rates too.

Some of the most frequent signs are:

• loss of muscle strength and muscle spasms
• rigid articulations
• problems with your speech
• complications involving ingesting, consuming food and drinking
• reduced cough reflex

Does There Exist a Treatment?

There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from therapies focused on different forms of MND.

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

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

It has been referred to as "truly remarkable" and a "significant point of optimism" for the entire condition.

Although the drug has recently received approval in the EU, it is not currently accessible in the UK.

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

Riluzole could decelerate the progression of the disease and prolong life by a few months, but it cannot repair damage.

Determining Life Expectancy for MND?

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

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

Based on the non-profit MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a one-third of people within a twelve months and over 50% within 24 months of diagnosis.

As the neurons stop working, ingestion and respiration become more challenging and many people 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 top-level sportspeople appear overrepresented by MND.

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

Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow involving 400 former Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an increased risk of acquiring the disease.

Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have experienced multiple concussions have physiological variations that may make them more susceptible to contracting MND.

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

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

The charity also emphasises that "reported MND cases in this research is remains quite small, and so concluding there is a definite increased risk could be misunderstood if this is simply a cluster due to random chance".

Several high-profile sports figures have been identified with the disease in the past few years.

This encompasses ex- rugby players, soccer players, and cricket athletes.

Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the disease at the age of 39.