Lou Gehrig's Disease Health Article

Definition

Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a neurodegenerative disease of unknown cause that breaks down tissues in the nervous system and affects the nerves responsible for movement. Its common name comes from the professional baseball player whose career was ended because of it.

Description

Lou Gehrig's disease is a disease of the motor neurons, those nerve cells reaching from the brain to the spinal cord (upper motor neurons) and the spinal cord to the peripheral nerves (lower motor neurons) that control muscle movement. In Lou Gehrig's disease, for unknown reasons, these neurons die, leading to a progressive loss of the ability to move virtually any of the muscles in the body. The disease affects "voluntary" muscles, those controlled by conscious thought, such as the arm, leg, and trunk muscles. Lou Gehrig's disease, in and of itself, does not affect sensation, thought processes, the heart muscle, or the "smooth" muscle of the digestive system, bladder, and other internal organs. Most sufferers retain function of their eye muscles, as well.

"Amyotrophic" refers to the loss of muscle bulk, a cardinal sign of ALS. "Lateral" indicates one of the regions of the spinal cord affected, and "sclerosis" describes the hardened tissue that develops in place of healthy nerves. Lou Gehrig's disease affects approximately 50,000 people in the United States, with about 5,000 new cases each year. The onset usually begins between the ages of 40 and 70, although younger onset is possible. Men have a slightly higher chance of developing the disease than women.