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

This causes them to lose strength and stiffen over time and usually affects your walking, speak, eat and breathe.

It is a quite uncommon disease that is most frequent in people above age fifty, but adults of any age can be impacted.

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

Approximately 5,000 adults 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 genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you get from your mother and father when you are delivered, and other lifestyle factors.

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

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 disease can advance at varying rates too.

Some of the most common indicators are:

• muscle weakness and muscle spasms
• rigid articulations
• difficulties in how you speak
• issues with ingesting, consuming food and taking fluids
• weakened coughing

Is There a Treatment?

No definitive treatment, but there is optimism stemming from treatments focused on various types of MND.

MND is not one disease - it is actually several that culminate in the death of nerve cells.

A new drug called tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been demonstrated to decelerate - and in some cases even undo - some of the symptoms of MND.

It has been described as "truly remarkable" and a "real moment of hope" for the entire condition.

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

Just one drug presently approved for the treatment of MND in the UK and approved by the NHS.

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

Determining Life Expectancy for MND?

Certain individuals can survive for decades with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the age of 22 and survived until 76.

But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and life expectancy is only several years.

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

As the neurons cease functioning, ingestion and breathing become more challenging and many people need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them remain living.

Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Receive a Diagnosis?

The exact cause has not been identified, but elite athletes appear disproportionately affected by MND.

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

Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow including four hundred ex- Scotland rugby union players concluded they had an increased risk of developing the disease.

Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have experienced multiple concussions have physiological variations that may make them more susceptible to developing 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 organization also emphasises that "reported MND instances in this research is remains quite small, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is simply a cluster due to random chance".

Several prominent sports figures have been identified with the condition in the past few years.

These include former rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricketers.

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