Rugby Players Getting MND? Doctor Explains

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]I I'm um progress.

[00:00:09]Um you know, from November until now, um >> That was J Haydn Arrow, who's recently been diagnosed with motor neuron disease, and he's not the only person who's been diagnosed as a professional rugby player. So, is there a link? I'm Dr. Saramud. Let's look at the facts.

[00:00:24]There've been a few high-profile cases of this recently, including former Australian rugby league player Carl Webb, who died in 2023, or English rugby player Rob Burrow, who died in 2024.

[00:00:37][music] The lifetime risk of developing motor neuron disease is 1 in 300, so we could just put this down to chance, but there is a study out there that suggests that it's more than that. See, a study found that doing more than 6 hours of strenuous physical activity per week was associated with gene variants, which are also found in the spinal cord of ALS patients, [music] the most common type of motor neuron disease, and this was important only for males. Now, we can't make any exercise recommendations based on these findings, but it does provide an interesting base for further exploration. Either way, I wish J Haydn Arrow and his family strength and resilience during this difficult time.