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MND affects nerve cells located in the cerebrum and spinal cord, which tell your muscles how to function.

This causes them to weaken and become rigid over time and typically impacts your walking, speak, eat and breathe.

This is a quite uncommon disease that is most common in individuals above age fifty, but adults of all ages can be impacted.

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

About 5,000 people in the UK are living with the disease at any one time.

Scientists are not sure the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you get from your mother and father when you are delivered, and other lifestyle factors.

For up to one in 10 people with MND, particular genetic factors are far more significant.

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

Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Condition?

MND affects everyone differently.

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

The condition can advance at varying rates too.

Among the most frequent signs are:

• muscle weakness and muscle spasms
• stiff joints
• difficulties in your speech
• complications involving ingesting, consuming food and taking fluids
• weakened coughing

Is There a Treatment?

No cure, but there is hope coming from treatments targeted at different forms of MND.

MND is not a single illness - it is actually several that culminate in the death of nerve cells.

A new drug known as tofersen is effective in just 2% of patients, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the symptoms of MND.

It has been described as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of hope" for the whole disease.

Although the drug has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK.

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

Riluzole may slow down the progression of the disease and increase survival by a few months, but it cannot repair damage.

What is Survival Rate for MND?

Certain individuals can live for many years with MND, such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.

But for most, the disease advances rapidly and life expectancy is just a few years.

According to the non-profit MND Association, the disease kills a one-third of individuals within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of diagnosis.

As the neurons stop working, swallowing and respiration become more challenging 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 been identified, but top-level sportspeople appear disproportionately affected by MND.

Two studies from 2005 and 2009 indicated that professional footballers have an elevated chance of contracting MND.

A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow involving four hundred former Scotland rugby union players concluded they had an increased risk of developing the disease.

Scientists also found that rugby players who have experienced multiple concussions have biological differences that may make them more prone to contracting MND.

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

It added that while the athletes researched were had a greater chance to acquire MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly caused the disease.

The organization also stresses that "documented MND instances in these studies is remains quite small, and so determining there is a certain elevated chance could be misinterpreted if this is merely a grouping due to random chance".

Several high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the condition in recent years.

This encompasses former rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricketers.

In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease aged 39.