What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological disease. It is named the Lou Gehrig’s disease after the Yankees baseball player who died from it in 1941. In Britain and elsewhere in the world, ALS is called “motor neuron disease”, in reference to the cells lost due to this disorder. The word “amyotrophic” means “without muscle nourishment”. It refers to the loss of signals the nerves normally send to the muscles. “Lateral” means “to the side”, and refers to the location of the damage in the spinal cord. “Sclerosis” means “hardened” and refers to the hardened nature of the spinal cord in advanced ALS. ALS attacks the nerve cells, or neurons, responsible for controlling voluntary muscles. In ALS, both the upper motor neurons and the lower motor neurons degenerate or die. Off course, once this happen, neurons cease to send messages to muscles. Unable to function, the muscles gradually weaken, waste away, and twitch. Even
