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Motor neurone disease affects nerves located in the brain and spine, which tell your muscle tissue how to function.

This causes them to lose strength and stiffen over time and usually affects how you walk, talk, eat and respire.

This is a quite uncommon disease that is most common in individuals over 50, but adults of all ages can be affected.

A person's chance in their life of contracting MND is one in 300.

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

Scientists are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genes - or biological traits - you get from your mother and father when you are delivered, and other environmental influences.

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

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

Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Disease?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

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

The disease can advance at different speeds too.

Some of the most frequent indicators are:

• loss of muscle strength and muscle spasms
• rigid articulations
• difficulties in how you speak
• issues with swallowing, consuming food and drinking
• reduced cough reflex

Does There Exist a Cure?

No cure, but there is optimism coming from therapies focused on various types of MND.

MND is not a single illness - it is actually several that culminate in the demise of motor neurones.

A new drug called tofersen is effective in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been demonstrated to decelerate - 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 whole disease.

Even though the medication has recently been approved in the European Union, it is not yet available in the UK.

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

Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the condition and prolong life by several months, but it does not reverse damage.

Determining Survival Rate for MND?

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

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

Based on the charity MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis.

As the neurons cease functioning, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need nutritional support or breathing apparatus to help them remain living.

Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

The precise reason has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople seem disproportionately affected by MND.

Two studies from 2005 and 2009 showed that professional footballers have an increased risk of developing MND.

Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University including 400 ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an increased risk of acquiring the condition.

Researchers also found that rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have physiological variations that could render them more susceptible to developing MND.

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

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

The organization 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 grouping due to random chance".

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

This encompasses ex- rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricketers.

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