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MND impacts nerves located in the brain and spinal cord, which tell your muscles what to do.

This causes them to lose strength and stiffen gradually and typically impacts your walking, speak, consume food and breathe.

It is a quite uncommon disease that is most frequent in individuals above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be impacted.

A person's lifetime risk of developing MND is 1 out of 300.

Approximately five thousand adults in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.

Scientists are not sure the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a mix of the genetic material - or biological traits - you inherit from your parents when you are born, and other lifestyle factors.

For up to 10% of people with MND, particular genetic factors play a much larger role.

There is usually a hereditary background of the illness in these cases.

Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Disease?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

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

The disease can advance at different speeds too.

Some of the most common signs are:

• loss of muscle strength and cramps
• stiff joints
• difficulties in your speech
• issues with ingesting, consuming food and drinking
• reduced cough reflex

Does There Exist a Treatment?

No cure, but there is hope stemming from treatments focused on different forms of MND.

MND is not one disease - it is actually several that result in the demise of motor neurones.

A new drug called tofersen is effective in just 2% of individuals, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in certain instances even undo - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

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

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

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

Riluzole may slow down the progression of the disease and prolong life by several months, but it cannot repair damage.

Determining Survival Rate for MND?

Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, such as renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and survived until 76.

But for the majority, the illness progresses quickly and survival time is only several years.

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

As the neurons cease functioning, ingestion and breathing become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive.

Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

The precise reason has not been identified, but top-level sportspeople seem overrepresented by MND.

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

Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow including four hundred ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an increased risk of acquiring the disease.

Researchers additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have biological differences that could render 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 studied were more likely to develop MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly led to the condition.

The organization also stresses that "documented MND cases in these studies is still relatively low, and so determining there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is merely a grouping due to statistical coincidence".

Several prominent athletes have been diagnosed with the condition in recent years.

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

Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition aged 39.