Link from athletes to ALS not established
'Lou Gehrig's Disease' also claimed the lives of Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter and boxing champ Ezzard Charles.

By Mark Craig, Star Tribune

Last update: June 09, 2007 – 4:05 PM

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is more commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease after the New York Yankees Hall of Famer, who died because of it in 1941, there is no definitive link between athletic training, athletic-related injuries and a higher risk of developing ALS, according to Dr. Lucie Bruijn, the ALS Association's science director and vice president.
"There have been studies performed; more recently on soccer players in Italy, and an Irish study that marathon runners are at higher risk," Bruijn said. "These are quite difficult to determine because these kinds of population studies, to be really sure, you have to have quite large numbers and have very rigorous control populations to define it. We have seen quite a conflict in literature, some showing absolutely that there might be a link and others not. So it remains unclear."

Gehrig is but one of several professional athletes who have died because of this fatally progressive neurodegenerative disease. Others include:

• Former Yankees pitcher and 1974 AL Cy Young winner Catfish Hunter.

• Ezzard Charles, who won a heavyweight boxing title in 1949.

• Former PGA Tour player Jeff Julian.

• Three teammates from the San Francisco 49ers' teams of the 1960s: Bob Waters, Gary Lewis and Matt Hazeltine.

• Ex-Houston Oilers defensive tackle Glenn Montgomery.

• Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Bob Hohn.

Former Vikings free safety Orlando Thomas' ALS was diagnosed in September 2004. He's now bedridden in his home in Youngsville, La. According to the ALS Association's website (www.alsa.org), each year there are about 5,600 Americans who are diagnosed with ALS and another 5,600 that die because of it.

During his Vikings' career (1995 to 2001), Thomas sustained numerous injuries. He broke both of his shoulder blades, which, even among NFL players, is rare.

Three years after Thomas retired, one of the first symptoms of his ALS was weakness in the shoulders. However, even in a cases such as this, where there appears to be a connection, Bruijn said the data is inconclusive because, after all, there are so many cases in which similar trauma did not lead to ALS in other athletes.

"The concept of trauma or some kind of pre-injury comes up in ALS," Bruijn said. "Many patients will say they've had some kind of trauma. It's hard to be absolutely sure that this is causative. My sense and what the field has a sort of sense of is more likely if these things are involved, it's possible the person already is predisposed to get the disease. This might be a trigger to hasten the cascade of events. It's very unclear whether an environment factor on its own can cause the disease or whether it has to be in combination with a certain genetic makeup."


Mark Craig • mcraig@startribune.com
http://www.startribune.com/509/story/1235181.html