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Motor neurone disease impacts nerve cells found in the cerebrum and spinal cord, which tell your muscles what to do.

This leads them to lose strength and become rigid over time and typically impacts your walking, speak, eat and breathe.

This is a quite uncommon condition that is most common in people above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be affected.

A person's chance in their life of developing MND is 1 out of 300.

Approximately 5,000 people in the UK will have the condition at any given moment.

Scientists are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely 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.

In as many as 10% of individuals with MND, specific genes play a much larger role.

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 identical signs, or experiences them in the identical sequence.

The disease can advance at varying rates too.

Some of the most frequent indicators are:

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

Is There a Treatment?

There is no definitive treatment, but there is hope coming from therapies targeted at various types of MND.

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

A new drug known as tofersen is effective in just 2% of individuals, however it has been shown to slow - and in some cases even reverse - some of the manifestations of MND.

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

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

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

Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the disease and prolong life by several months, but it cannot repair harm.

What is Life Expectancy for MND?

Some people can live for many years with MND, such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the age of 22 and lived to 76.

But for the majority, the illness advances rapidly and life expectancy is just a few years.

Based on the non-profit MND Association, the condition kills a one-third of individuals within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis.

As the neurons stop working, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and many people need nutritional support or breathing apparatus to help them stay alive.

Are Athletes At Greater Risk to Be Diagnosed?

The precise reason has not yet been found, but top-level sportspeople appear overrepresented by MND.

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

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

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

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

It added that while the sportspeople researched were more likely to acquire MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly caused the condition.

The organization also stresses that "documented MND cases in this research is remains quite small, and so concluding 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 disease in the past few years.

These include ex- rugby union players, soccer players, and cricketers.

In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig died from the condition aged 39.