Lou Gehrig's Disease: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

ALS is a disease that progressively affect the nerves in the brain and in the spinal cord. Many people known it as the Lou Gehrig’s disease but its official name is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Lou Gehrig was a hall of fame baseball player who was diagnosed with ALS in the 1930s. (Figure2). Before he was diagnosed Mr. Gehrig started notes systems when he was having trouble tying he’s shoe laces and when he was on the baseball field. According to ALSA.org, “Based on U.S. population studies, a little over 6,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year.” That is 1 person every two who is diagnose with ALS in America. Men are more commonly effect than women, and Caucasians are more likely to be diagnose with ALS ALS disease damages the motor neurons in the brain and in the spinal cord. Motor neurons are nerve cells that control muscle movement. The upper motor neurons send messages from the brain to the spinal cord and the lower motor neurons send the signals from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. With ALS patients the spinal cord is not receiving the signals from the brain, so the voluntary muscles are not receiving any signals. As figure 3 illustrates a normal motor neuron and ALS motor neuron.
As time goes by the signals that goes to muscles grows weak, and you start to lose control of body movements. It starts off slow …show more content…
There is currently no cure for ALS, however there are various treatments to help living with the disease a little easier. ALS sufferers can go to physical to try to restore muscle strength and functions through exercise. They can also attend speech therapy to help with developing techniques to make their speech more clearly understood. There are different types of surgeries to help with normal body functions that no longer operate due to the disease. Research is constantly being done until the cause of ALS is