Big Freeze Case Study

ALS is also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a disease in which the brain, nerves, and spinal cord deteriorate. It attacks every part of the body except the brain. Causing major body malfunction along with muscle weakening. Which includes lack of strength, the ability to move arms, legs and body, eventually you lose the ability to breathe. The average time of life after being diagnosed is two - five years. It was believed to be inherited or maybe an infection. After years of research scientist have found a major

Amyotrophic meaning, “no muscle nourishment” in Greek, lateral meaning where the neurons are in the spinal cord, and sclerosis meaning “scarring.” ALS, often known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” named after the New York Yankee who first brought awareness to the disease in the late 1930’s, is a neurodegenerative disease, which affects the neurons in the brain. The nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for sending and receiving motor signals progressively die off, causing the deterioration of simple motor skills in patients with ALS, such as walking, talking, and eventually speaking and breathing, however thinking is not affected by ALS. Early symptoms cause the person to slowly lose mobility of limbs, but in a matter of a few years, the person loses the mobility of most of their body and will eventually lose the ability to eat and breath, which will ultimately cause death. ALS deteriorates the patient's body, however does not affect the patient's state of mind or sanity while the rest of the body shuts down. People usually get ALS between the ages of 40 and 70. However, there is a growing trend where athletes are getting ALS in their thirties. ALS can be contributed to genetic predisposition, which means that the gene that is responsible for ALS is already in the person’s DNA. In recent studies, however, it was observed that individuals who have had suffered multiple concussions or any other head trauma are

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a classified as a degenerative neurological disorder that inhibits motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain to function properly. This disease eventually results in paralysis and imminent death over a period of time. ALS patients have anywhere from a few months, to a couple years to live after diagnosis since their nervous systems are slowly destroyed, rendering the body useless, and sustaining life impossible.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS is a disease caused by concussions and head trauma. ALS is a rare neurological disease that mainly involves nerve cells, which control voluntary muscle movement, such as breathing, talking, or chewing. With this being a progressive disease that has no cure it has made a tremendous impact for check ups after blows to the head. A hit to the head does not always mean you have a concussion, but with symptoms and side effects the athlete should not take a chance and get it checked out immediately. This is more of a physical incapacity disease. ALS has become a common disease for athletes in the mid-twenties, and life expectancy is very slim once the diagnosis has taken place. The main reported life periods for ALS athletes has been 3-5 years, but with medication and treatments it has had higher life expectancies about 20% have 5 years, 10% have 10 years, and 5% have 20 years. The athletes lives have changed from the beginning of the diagnoses till the end of the lives they do live with the disease. Being a scary thing to think about athletes do tend to have the ability to walk away at retirement perfectly clear from ALS, which is a win.

People first need to know what ALS is. ALS is very difficult to diagnose. So far there is no

Recent studies show that some athletes are now actually being diagnosed with either of these diseases as early as in their late 20’s. For example, Pete Frates, a former baseball player for the Boston College, was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 27. He first realized something was wrong when he was struck on the left wrist with a baseball and never fully recovered from the lingering weakness. He was diagnosed on March 13, 2012 and immediately started to raise awareness. In 2014 he launched the Ice Bucket Challenge along with the help of his friend Pat Quinn to raise money for ALS research. In addition, Chris Henry, who was a football wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, was diagnosed with CTE at age 26. He is the only known player to have had CTE and was still active in sports. He was diagnosed after he had fallen from a pickup truck and died on December 16, 2009. Although his family had no knowledge of this, they did notice the mood swings, headaches, and anger management issues that he did not have before. Medical research show that athletes such as Pete Frates and Chris Henry are being diagnosed at an early age because they frequently suffer from head trauma and concussions. Athletes often do not realize the potential danger they are putting themselves in each time they play and get a brain

One of the diseases athletes are being diagnosed with is ALS, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

The word “Amyotrophic” comes from the Greek language meaning “no nourishment”. ALS causes muscle weakness, problems with coordination, stiff muscles, loss of muscles, muscle spasms, over reactive reflexes, and fatigue. The symptoms of ALS increase rapidly, which makes an individual lose control of the muscles and begin having slurred speech. The arms and legs begin to feel weak and tired unexpectedly, while also experiencing cramps. When a medical professional diagnose someone with ALS they have about 2-5 years to live on average. Although about 10% of people with ALS live up to 10 years with the disease, while 25% live up to 5 years and 50% live up to 3 years. The average age that an individual is diagnosed with ALS is 55, but varies from the ages of

However, there are two types of ALS, which are Sporadic ALS and Familial ALS. Sporadic ALS can happen to anyone and makes up most of 90% to 95% of cases, while Familial ALS is inherited and that's about 5% to 10% of cases. Some ailments related to the disease are Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS), Progressive Bulbar Palsy (PBP), and Werdnig-Hoffman disease. PLS is a slightly less severe form of ALS, but it does affect the upper body. PBP is a muscle weakness of the body, however, the lower body is affected. Werdnig-Hoffman is a spinal cord disease that affects both children and infants. For all three types, there is no treatment or cure that will slow down the progression. In support of the patients with ALS, multiple support groups have been made, and in addition, patients will donate their brain to science to further the research in finding a cure. In result, ALS isn't the only disease that poses a big issue in sports, CTE also has a notable impact.

ALS is usually described as a neurological disorder that weakens your muscles. In other words, your nerve cells begin to die and you lose voluntary muscle control. It affects every person differently, but it most commonly appears in your upper core

ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a disease that attacks the muscles and impacts a person’s physical function. Overtime, the symptoms will

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal disease, also known as Motor Neurons Disease, Charchot Disease and Lou Gehrig disease. ALS destroys the Central Nervous System (CNS) and causes damage to the upper and lower motor neurons in the brain. Signs and symptoms are characterized as: muscles weakness, muscle atrophy, twitching and reduced muscle reflexes. Eventually the patient will become paralyzed and rely on a tracheostomy and ventilator for breathing (ALS Association [ALSA], 2010).

Though the cause of ALS is unknown, many people believe that sports are to blame. Recent studies show that people who have suffered from head trauma are most likely to get diagnosed with ALS at a much younger age. However, some people suffer from repeated blows to the head and not develop the disease. Lou Gehrig was only thirty-six years old when he was diagnosed with ALS; it is said that Lou Gehrig obtained many head injuries and failed to get the rest he needed in order maintain his streak of 2,632 consecutive games. Was not getting the necessary rest to recover a main factor that lead to the development of ALS in Lou Gehrig? Athletes that box or play football are at a higher risk of developing ALS because they are constantly receiving repetitive blows to the head. The reason why athletes develop ALS at a younger age might be because of the constant head

Recently some athletes have died or are suffering from ALS and CTEs. Athletes that are diagnosed with any of the two diseases, sometimes do not even know how and why they developed one or the other. ALS and CTE lately have been more common especially in athletes. ALS and CTE can affect men and women who play or practice a sport or activity that has physical contact, but it is more common in men although these conditions are rising in women as well. One reason why athletes are getting ALS or CTEs is due to sport injuries mainly head injuries. Sport injuries do not seem to be so important but they can lead to something more serious. Something that athletes also get is concussions and trauma, repeated concussions are dangerous.In

The manifestations of ALS are caused by the location of motor neuron death. When upper motor neurons die, the symptoms include problems controlling fine movements, spasms, dysphagia, dysphonia and dysarthria (Porth & Matfin, 2009). “Manifestations of lower motor neuron destruction include fasciculations, weakness, muscle atrophy, and hyporeflexia” (Porth & Matfin, 2009, p. 1284). Patients with early signs of ALS usually complain of feeling weak on one side, which is due to the slowing of electrical impulses to that group of muscles (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2010). Since the impulses are slowed, they are not receiving adequate electrical stimulation to move and the person feels weak. As the disease progresses, all the motor neurons die and are not regenerated so, the patient is left paralyzed, losing the ability to speak, swallow and breathe (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2010).