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Motor neurone disease impacts nerves found in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscle tissue what to do.

This leads them to lose strength and become rigid over time and usually affects your walking, talk, consume food and breathe.

It is a quite uncommon condition that is most common in people above age fifty, but adults of any age can be affected.

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

About five thousand people in the UK will have the disease at any given moment.

Researchers are not sure what causes MND, but it is probable to be a mix of the genes - or biological traits - you get from your mother and father when you are born, and additional lifestyle factors.

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

Typically there is a family history of the illness in these cases.

What are the Early Symptoms of the Disease?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

Not everyone has the identical signs, or experiences them in the same order.

The disease can progress at varying rates too.

Some of the most common signs are:

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

Does There Exist a Cure?

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

MND is not one disease - it is really several that result in the death of motor neurones.

A new drug known as tofersen is effective in only one in 50 patients, however it has been shown to slow - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

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

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

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

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

Determining Survival Rate for MND?

Some people can survive for decades with MND, such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and survived until 76.

But for most, the illness advances rapidly and life expectancy is only several years.

According to the non-profit MND Association, the condition claims the lives of a one-third of individuals within a year and over 50% within two years of diagnosis.

As the nerve cells stop working, ingestion and respiration become increasingly difficult and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or respiratory aids to help them remain living.

Do Sports Professionals More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

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

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

Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University including 400 ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an higher likelihood of acquiring the condition.

Researchers also found that rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have physiological variations that may make them more prone to contracting MND.

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

It added that while the athletes researched were had a greater chance to develop MND, it did not show the athletic activities directly caused the disease.

The charity also stresses that "reported MND instances in these studies is still relatively low, and so determining there is a definite increased risk could be misinterpreted if this is simply a cluster due to random chance".

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

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

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