Rugby players with MND
The number of rugby players who have been diagnosed with motor neuron disease are growing annually and new research has revealed that the disease is 15 times more likely in former rugby players.
Scotland and Lions rugby player Doddie Weir is the latest casualty of MND when he passed away recently. Weir became a campaigner after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The new study shows people playing top-level contact sports are eight-and-a-half times more likely to develop motor neuron disease.
The MND Association said the study raised “more questions than answers”.
Scientists said the study should encourage “dramatic changes” in rugby to reduce the risks of brain injury.
Gloucester forward Ed Slater is the latest rugby player to be diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The Gallagher Premiership club said the 33-year-old had made the decision to retire from rugby with immediate effect.
In a statement, Gloucester said: ‘Gloucester Rugby is deeply pained to announce that Ed Slater has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).
Slater, who featured in a number of England squads and represented England Saxons, joined Gloucester in 2017 following seven years with Leicester, where he served as club captain.
The first high profile player that was diagnosed with MND was former Springbok Joost van der Westhuizen, who lost his battle with the illness in 2017. Another was Tinus Linee who succumbed in 2014.
English rugby league legend Rob Burrow is also battling with the disease.
Furthermore, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2020.
Lawyers for more than 185 players are suing rugby union’s governing bodies for negligence, claiming that playing the sport caused brain damage.
World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) are accused of failing to “protect players from permanent injury”.
Among those named as claimants are World Cup winner Steve Thompson and former Wales player Alix Popham. Both Thompson and Popham have both been diagnosed with early onset dementia.
Thompson and seven other former players started the process of a claim in December 2020. The eight former rugby union internationals are beginning the process of suing the sports governing bodies for negligence due to the permanent brain damage that they have suffered.
Each member of the group has been diagnosed with the early signs of dementia and claim that the repeated blows to the head suffered during their careers are to blame.
Ex-Wales captain Ryan Jones is also a claimant after recently revealing he has the same diagnosis.
Further to that, 75 ex-rugby league players ‘are set to launch legal action against the sport to sue over brain injuries – with the RFL facing a potential lawsuit of tens of millions of pounds if found guilty of negligence’.
Among them are Bobbie Goulding, a former Great Britain scrum-half, Welsh duo Michii Edwards and Lenny Woodard, Scottish pair Jason Roach and Ryan MacDonald and England’s Francis Maloney.
Multiple studies have shown a link between brain injuries and an increased risk of developing neurodegenerative disease, and that ex-professional athletes are at an increased risk of developing such conditions.
As concerns grow, a group of former players has decided to sue various governing bodies for allegedly failing to protect them from permanent injury.
According to the DailyMail, the study – done by a group of scientists from various medical establishments worldwide – is the most definitive investigation of its kind ever undertaken and has concluded that the risks of developing MND are more than eight times higher among those who sustain repeated blows to the head and spine in top-level sport.
The study also found increased risks of dementia and Parkinson’s and the consultant says contact training ‘should be a thing of the past’.
‘As far as we can see, there is a link,’ said consultant spine surgeon Mike Hutton, who is one of the study’s lead researchers.
‘The results of our review found that the risk of developing ALS, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis as MND is also known, was eight times more common in professional athletes prone to concussion or neck trauma. It was a figure that shocked us all.’
The findings, based on a review of 16 studies of incidence of the disease, led researchers to identify rugby, football, American football, hockey and motor racing as the sports codes that need further investigation.
‘We now need more research to further investigate that link and to establish whether we need to adjust our approach to sports, as those who play them at the top level get faster and stronger.
‘We think the numbers are significant — 8.5 times higher. There may be other factors. A certain body mass index or muscularity, which makes people more likely to play top-level sports of this kind. We are now imploring the medical community and sports governing bodies to commission longitudinal studies in this area so that we can better understand any preventative measures available.
World Rugby, the Doddie Weir Foundation as well as the FA (English Football Association) welcomed the research findings.
‘While this study is a review of published research over a number of years and therefore not qualitative or rugby specific, we welcome its publication and insights. It does not address the actual risk, only a relative risk, while no rugby studies were included in the study. The key is further research,’ a World Rugby spokesperson said.
Leading neurologist Dr Willy Stewart, at Glasgow University, found the risk of any neurodegenerative disease was more than double for former international rugby union players. Former Scottish internationals were at just over twice the risk of developing dementia and three times at risk of Parkinson’s.
Former rugby players were older when they died, reaching an average of nearly 79 compared with just over 76 in the comparison group. Former rugby players also had lower rates of death from any cause until they reached the age of 70 after which there was no difference between the two groups.
Treatment
There is no cure for MND and the disease is fatal, however the disease progresses at different speeds in patients.
People with MND are expected to live two to five years after the symptoms first manifest, although 10 percent of sufferers live at least 10 years.
History
The NHS describes motor neurone disease (MND) as: ‘An uncommon condition that affects the brain and nerves. It causes weakness that gets worse over time.’
The weakness is caused by the deterioration of motor neurons, upper motor neurons that travel from the brain down the spinal cord, and lower motor neurons that spread out to the face, throat and limbs.
It was first discovered in 1865 by a French neurologist, Jean-Martin Charcot, hence why MND is sometimes known as Charcot’s disease.
In the UK, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is referred to as Motor Neurone Disease, while in the US, ALS is referred to as a specific subset of MND, which is defined as a group of neurological disorders.
However, according to Oxford University Hospitals: ‘Nearly 90 percent of patients with MND have the mixed ALS form of the disease, so that the terms MND and ALS are commonly used to mean the same thing.’
Symptoms
Weakness in the ankle or leg, which may manifest itself with trips or difficulty ascending stairs, and a weakness in the ability to grip things.
Slurred speech is an early symptom and may later worsen to include difficulty swallowing food.
Muscle cramps or twitches are also a symptom, as is weight loss due to leg and arm muscles growing thinner over time.
Diagnosis
MND is difficult to diagnose in its early stages because several conditions may cause similar symptoms. There is also no one test used to ascertain its presence.
However, the disease is usually diagnosed through a process of exclusion, whereby diseases that manifest similar symptoms to ALS are excluded.
Causes
The NHS says that MND is an ‘uncommon condition’ that predominantly affects older people. However, it warns that it can affect adults of any age.
The NHS says that, as of yet, ‘it is not yet known why’ the disease happens. The ALS Association says that MND occurs throughout the world ‘with no racial, ethnic or socioeconomic boundaries and can affect anyone’.
It says that war veterans are twice as likely to develop ALS and that men are 20 per cent more likely to get it.
