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Motor neurone disease affects nerve cells found in the cerebrum and spine, that instruct your muscle tissue what to do.

This leads them to lose strength and become rigid gradually and typically impacts how you walk, talk, eat and respire.

It is a quite uncommon disease that is most common in people over 50, but adults of all ages can be impacted.

An individual's chance in their life of developing MND is one in 300.

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

Scientists are not sure the cause of MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genetic material - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your mother and father when you are born, and other environmental influences.

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.

What are the Early Symptoms of the Condition?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

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

The condition can advance at varying rates too.

Some of the most frequent signs are:

• loss of muscle strength and cramps
• rigid articulations
• difficulties in how you speak
• complications involving ingesting, consuming food and drinking
• weakened coughing

Is There a Treatment?

There is no cure, but there is optimism coming from therapies focused on different forms of MND.

MND is not one disease - it is really several that result in the demise of nerve cells.

A new drug called tofersen works in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been shown to slow - and in some cases even undo - some of the symptoms of MND.

It has been referred to as "truly remarkable" and a "real moment of hope" for the whole disease.

Even though the drug has recently received approval in the European Union, it is not currently accessible in the UK.

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

Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the disease and increase survival by several months, but it cannot repair damage.

What is Life Expectancy for MND?

Certain individuals can live for many years with MND, including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and survived until 76.

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

According to the charity MND Association, the disease claims the lives of a third of people within a twelve months and over 50% within 24 months of diagnosis.

As the neurons stop working, ingestion and breathing become more challenging and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.

Are Athletes At Greater Risk to Be Diagnosed?

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

A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an increased risk of developing MND.

A 2022 study by the University of Glasgow including four hundred former Scotland rugby athletes concluded they had an higher likelihood of developing the condition.

Scientists additionally discovered that rugby players who have suffered repeated head injuries have biological differences that could render them more prone 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 athletic activities directly led to the disease.

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

Multiple prominent athletes have been identified with the condition in the past few years.

This encompasses ex- rugby union internationals, soccer players, and cricketers.

Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig succumbed to the condition at the age of 39.