Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Physical activity as a risk factor in ALS
  1. Michael Swash
  1. Correspondence to Professor Michael Swash, Department of Neurology, Royal London Hospital, London EC2Y 8BL, UK; mswash{at}btinternet.com

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Can physical activity induce excitoxicity and increase the risk of ALS?

Even from the time of the earliest descriptions of ALS, environmental causation was considered possible. For example, Charcot mentioned that a third of his patients considered exposure to cold and damp was responsible, and he singled out one man who had sustained a fractured clavicle a few months before the onset of the disease.1 Trauma, occupational or sports-related physical activity, cigarette smoking, exposure to electromagnetic fields or electric shocks, military service and exposure to environmental lead or organic solvents have all been reported to increase the risk of acquiring ALS.2 3 However, many of these studies are based on small case numbers, or have been criticised on other methodological grounds and, for now, only an association with smoking history, pesticide exposure and dietary factors, especially premorbid fat intake have been consistent, although at a low level …

View Full Text

Footnotes

  • Contributors I am the sole author and no illustrations.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Not required.

  • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

  • Data sharing statement Not relevant.

Linked Articles

  • Neurodegeneration
    Anne E Visser James P K Rooney Fabrizio D’Ovidio Henk-Jan Westeneng Roel C H Vermeulen Ettore Beghi Adriano Chiò Giancarlo Logroscino Orla Hardiman Jan H Veldink Leonard H van den Berg for the Euro-MOTOR consortium Andrea Bru-no Carlo De Fanti Sara Fascendini Angela Tomasoni Marco Arnaboldi Manuela Valsecchi Massimo Moleri Marco Poloni Dario Alimonti Fabrizio Tagliavini VeronicaRedaelli Giuseppe Di Fede Ilaria Bizzozero Sara Prioni Anneke J Van der kooi Joost Raaphorst Andrea Calvo Cristina Moglia Federico Casale Antonio Canosa Umberto Manera Davide Bertuzzo Letizia Mazzini Enrica Bersano Mark Heverin Alice Vadja Elisabetta Pupillo Giancarlo Comi Christian Lunetta Francesca Gerardi Massimiliano Filosto Maria Sofia Cotelli Fabrizio Rinaldi Luca Chiveri Maria Cristina Guaita Patrizia Perrone Ceroni Mauro Luca Diamanti Carlo Ferrarese Lucio Tremolizzo Maria Luisa Delodovici Giorgio Bono Chiara Zecca Rosanna Tortelli