Harvard Health Publishing by Robert H. Shmerling, MD, 2/2/2022
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a neurologic disease that damages nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain, causing widespread muscle wasting and weakness. Decades of research have failed to come up with a definite cause. However, one new study supports a link between playing professional football and ALS.