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Motor neurone disease impacts nerves found in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscles how to function.

This causes them to lose strength and stiffen over time and typically impacts how you walk, talk, eat and breathe.

This is a quite uncommon disease that is most frequent in people over 50, but adults of any age can be affected.

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

About 5,000 adults in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.

Researchers are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genetic material - or biological traits - you inherit from your parents when you are born, and additional environmental influences.

For up to 10% of individuals with MND, specific genes play a much larger role.

There is usually a family history of the illness in such instances.

What are the First Signs of the Condition?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

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

The disease can progress at varying rates too.

Some of the most common indicators are:

• muscle weakness and cramps
• rigid articulations
• difficulties in your speech
• issues with ingesting, eating and taking fluids
• reduced cough reflex

Does There Exist a Cure?

No cure, but there is optimism stemming from treatments targeted at different forms of MND.

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

An innovative medication called tofersen works in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in some cases even undo - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

It has been referred to as "truly remarkable" and a "significant point of optimism" for the whole disease.

Although the drug 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 could decelerate the advancement of the condition and increase survival 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 survival time is just a few years.

According to the charity MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a third of individuals within a twelve months and more than half within 24 months of identification.

As the nerve cells cease functioning, swallowing and respiration become more challenging and many people need nutritional support 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 top-level sportspeople seem disproportionately affected by MND.

Two studies from 2005 and 2009 indicated that soccer players have an elevated chance of contracting MND.

Research from 2022 by the University of Glasgow including 400 former Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an higher likelihood of developing the disease.

Scientists also found that rugby players who have experienced 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 sportspeople studied were had a greater chance to develop MND, it did not show the sports directly led to the condition.

The organization also emphasises that "documented MND cases in this research is remains quite small, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is simply a grouping due to statistical coincidence".

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

This encompasses former rugby union players, soccer players, and cricket athletes.

Across the Atlantic, MLB athlete Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition aged 39.