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MND impacts nerves found 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 your walking, talk, eat and breathe.

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

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

Approximately 5,000 adults in the UK will have the disease at any given moment.

Scientists are not sure what causes MND, but it is probable to be a combination of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your parents when you are delivered, and other environmental influences.

In as many as 10% of people with MND, specific genes are far more significant.

Typically there is a hereditary background of the disease in such instances.

Identifying the First Signs of the Condition?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

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

The disease can advance at different speeds too.

Some of the most frequent signs are:

• muscle weakness and muscle spasms
• rigid articulations
• problems with how you speak
• issues with swallowing, consuming food and taking fluids
• reduced cough reflex

Is There a Treatment?

There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from therapies targeted at different forms of MND.

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

An innovative medication called tofersen works in just 2% of patients, however it has been shown to decelerate - and in certain instances even undo - a portion of the symptoms 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 EU, it is not currently accessible in the UK.

Just one pharmaceutical presently approved for the management of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.

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

What is Life Expectancy 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 most, the illness advances rapidly and life expectancy is only several years.

According to the charity MND Association, the disease kills a third of individuals within a year and over 50% within two years of identification.

As the neurons stop working, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and many people need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them remain living.

Are Athletes 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 elevated chance of contracting MND.

A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow including four hundred former Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an increased risk of acquiring the condition.

Researchers also found that rugby players who have experienced multiple concussions have physiological variations that could render them more prone to contracting MND.

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

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

The charity also emphasises that "reported MND instances in this research is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is simply a cluster due to statistical coincidence".

Multiple high-profile sports figures have been identified with the disease in recent years.

This encompasses ex- rugby players, footballers, and cricket athletes.

Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the disease aged 39.