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MND affects nerves located in the cerebrum and spinal cord, that instruct your muscle tissue how to function.

This leads them to weaken and become rigid gradually and usually affects how you walk, talk, consume food and breathe.

This is a relatively rare condition that is most common in people over 50, but grown-ups of any age can be impacted.

An individual's lifetime risk of contracting MND is one in 300.

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

Scientists are uncertain what causes MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genes - or biological traits - you inherit from your mother and father when you are born, and additional lifestyle factors.

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

There is usually a hereditary background of the disease in such instances.

Identifying the First Signs of the Disease?

MND affects everyone differently.

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

The disease can advance at varying rates too.

Among the most common signs are:

• muscle weakness and muscle spasms
• rigid articulations
• difficulties in how you speak
• complications involving swallowing, eating and taking fluids
• weakened coughing

Does There Exist a Cure?

There is no cure, but there is hope stemming from therapies targeted at various types of MND.

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

A new drug called tofersen works 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 hope" for the entire condition.

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

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

Riluzole could decelerate the advancement of the condition and prolong life by a few months, but it does not reverse damage.

What is Survival Rate for MND?

Some people can live for many years with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.

But for most, the illness progresses quickly and life expectancy is just a few years.

According to the charity MND Association, the disease kills a one-third of people within a year and over 50% within two years of diagnosis.

As the neurons cease functioning, swallowing and breathing become increasingly difficult and many people need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.

Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

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

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

Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow involving four hundred former Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an increased risk of developing the condition.

Researchers also found that rugby athletes who have experienced repeated head injuries have biological differences that may make them more prone to developing MND.

The MND Association recognizes there is a "correlation" between contact 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 organization also emphasises that "documented MND instances in this research is remains quite small, and so determining there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is simply a grouping due to statistical coincidence".

Several high-profile sports figures have been identified with the condition in the past few years.

These include ex- rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricket athletes.

In the United States, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease aged 39.