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Motor neurone disease impacts nerve cells found in the cerebrum and spine, which tell your muscles how to function.

This leads them to lose strength and stiffen gradually and usually affects your walking, talk, consume food and breathe.

This is a relatively rare condition that is most common in individuals above age fifty, but grown-ups of any age can be impacted.

An individual's chance in their life of contracting MND is 1 out of 300.

Approximately five thousand people in the UK are living with the disease at any one time.

Researchers are not sure what causes MND, but it is probable to be a combination of the genes - or biological traits - you get from your parents when you are delivered, and other lifestyle factors.

For up to one in 10 individuals with MND, particular genetic factors play a much larger role.

There is usually a family history of the illness in these cases.

Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Condition?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

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

The condition can progress at different speeds too.

Some of the most frequent signs are:

• loss of muscle strength and cramps
• stiff joints
• difficulties in how you speak
• issues with swallowing, consuming food and drinking
• reduced cough reflex

Is There a Cure?

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

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

A new drug called tofersen works in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been shown to slow - and in certain instances even reverse - some of the manifestations of MND.

It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of optimism" for the entire condition.

Even though the drug has recently been approved in the EU, it is not currently accessible in the UK.

Just one pharmaceutical currently licensed for the management of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.

Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the disease and increase survival by several months, but it does not reverse harm.

Determining Survival Rate for MND?

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

But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and survival time is just a few years.

Based on the charity MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a third of individuals within a twelve months and over 50% within 24 months of identification.

As the neurons stop working, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and many people need nutritional support or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.

Do Sports Professionals At Greater Risk to Be Diagnosed?

The exact cause has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople appear disproportionately affected by MND.

A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 indicated that soccer players have an increased risk of contracting MND.

A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow involving 400 ex- Scotland rugby union players determined they had an higher likelihood of developing the condition.

Researchers additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have physiological variations that may make them more prone to contracting MND.

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

It noted that while the athletes studied were had a greater chance to develop MND, it did not prove the sports directly led to the condition.

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

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

This encompasses former rugby internationals, footballers, and cricketers.

In the United States, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease at the age of 39.