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

This leads them to weaken and stiffen gradually and typically impacts your walking, speak, consume food and breathe.

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

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

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

Scientists are uncertain the cause of MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genetic material - or biological traits - you inherit from your parents when you are delivered, and other lifestyle factors.

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

Typically there is a hereditary background of the illness in these cases.

What are the Early Symptoms of the Condition?

MND affects everyone differently.

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

The condition can advance at different speeds too.

Some of the most common signs are:

• muscle weakness and muscle spasms
• rigid articulations
• difficulties in how you speak
• complications involving swallowing, consuming food and drinking
• weakened coughing

Is There a Cure?

No definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from therapies focused on various types of MND.

MND is not one disease - it is really multiple that culminate in the demise of motor neurones.

An innovative medication known as tofersen is effective in only one in 50 individuals, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in some cases even undo - some of the manifestations of MND.

It has been referred to as "absolutely groundbreaking" and a "real moment of hope" for the entire condition.

Even though the medication has recently received approval in the EU, it is not currently accessible in the UK.

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

Riluzole may slow down the advancement of the condition and prolong life by a few months, but it cannot repair damage.

What is Life Expectancy for MND?

Certain individuals can live for many years with MND, including renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and lived to 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 kills a one-third of people within a year and over 50% within two years of diagnosis.

As the nerve cells cease functioning, ingestion and respiration become more challenging and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them stay alive.

Are Athletes At Greater Risk to Receive a Diagnosis?

The exact cause has not yet been found, but elite athletes appear disproportionately affected by MND.

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

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

Researchers additionally discovered that rugby players who have experienced multiple concussions have biological differences that may make them more susceptible to contracting MND.

The MND Association acknowledges there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.

It added that while the sportspeople studied were had a greater chance to acquire MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly led to the disease.

The charity also stresses that "documented MND cases in these studies is remains quite small, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misunderstood if this is simply a grouping due to random chance".

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

These include former rugby internationals, soccer players, and cricket athletes.

In the United States, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the disease at the age of 39.