Did Lou Gehrig have Lou Gerhig's?

Because his body was cremated, we may never know if Lou Gehrig actually had the disease that was eventually named after him; he could have had a motor neuron disorder that mimics it.
The Journal of Neuropathology and Neurology is reporting on a new study that indicates that brain trauma can be the catalyst that leads to a disorder similar to amyotrophic lateral scelerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

New Research

According to the New York Times, researchers from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Boston University School of Medicine have primarily focused on analyzing brain injuries among deceased NFL athletes.  After examining the spinal cords of two football players and one boxer, all of whom had been diagnosed with ALS, they discovered that they instead suffered from a disorder that “erodes the central nervous system in similar ways” as ALS.

Similar, but not the same. Dr. Robert Stern, co-director of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Ecephalopathy, explains that these new findings have verified what some have suspected for a long time – that there is a connection between a disease similar to ALS and head trauma experienced in combat and body impact sports.

Specifically, Dr. Stern tells the New York Times, “People are being misdiagnosed clinically while they are alive as having ALS when in fact they have a different motor neuron disease. Scientists will be able to get a faster understanding of the disease in general, and therefore effective treatments, by knowing more about who's at risk and who's not.

Although baseball is not considered a collision sport, football is; Gehrig played the sport as a half-back in high school and at Columbia University. At least once, he was hit in the head with a baseball that knocked him unconscious.  During his entire sports career, he suffered at least five concussions, Bloomberg reports.

Both ALS and the motor neuron disease recently discovered in this current study are degenerative; as the motor neurons degenerate, they eventually become unable to send messages to muscle fibers that control movement.

Symptoms of ALS

According to the ALS association, the initial symptoms of the disease can be so subtle that they are often overlooked. However, as the disease progresses, many of these symptoms become more pronounced:

*muscle weakness in the hands, arms, legs or muscles of speech, swallowing or breathing
*twitching and cramping of muscles, especially those in the hands and feet
*impairment of the use of the limbs
*shortness of breath, difficulty breathing and swallowing (in the latter stages)