Several studies point to an increased risk in certain athletes. Coincidence or clue to explore? The experts explain.
Contact athletes more exposed to the disease?
“I don’t feel sick”. Former rugby player Lewis Moody, 47, speaks with these first words, as he announces that he is affected by Charcot disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Before him, Charcot disease affected other high-level athletes, such as Joost Van der Westhuizen, a former South African scrum-half who died in 2017.
Should we see a link there? Several studies have looked into this question. In 2023, work carried out on 2,500 European athletes shows an almost doubled risk of developing the disease among those practicing rugby, football, hockey or boxing, compared to the rest of the population.
In American football, the review Jama reported in 2021 that, among 20,000 players followed over 60 years, 38 were diagnosed with ALS, including 28 who died. That is almost four times more than in the general population.
However, and without suggesting a causal link, researchers mention the risks of repeated head trauma. Whether concussions or microshocks, these blows are common in these disciplines. In the long term, they cause damage to the motor cortex, the region of the brain that controls muscles.
A disease between genetics, environment and predispositions
Consulted, Professor Philippe Corcia, neurologist responsible for the ALS reference center in Tours, calls for caution.
“A single case does not make a generalization. Contact sports do not constitute a population particularly at risk for ALS, and there is no real concern in the world of rugby.
Above all, it recalls the complexity of this pathology. “ALS does not appear due to a single risk factor, but also due to environment and genetics.
According to him, “sport is not a taboo and we should certainly not give the impression that it should be avoided, quite the contrary”.
An observation shared by Luc Dupuis, researcher at Inserm, in the Parisian. He believes that ALS “remains a rare disease and we should especially not discourage the practice of sport, the benefits of which remain far greater than the risks“.
A complex disease, perhaps accelerated by contact sports?
However, our expert recognizes that intensive practice can play a role in the speed of evolution. “It is questionable whether these people would have developed ALS without playing rugby. Perhaps the disease would have appeared later. It is possible that contact sports accelerate the process in predisposed individuals.”
Before recalling the complexity of this syndrome. “ALS presents very different pictures from one patient to another. We can have members of the same family presenting completely different pictures,” he recalls. “We can almost say that each person has their own Charcot disease, which makes research into treatments, and research into the disease in general, even more complex.”
“As long as we have strength left“: a film, a campaign and a new institute for ALS
The ARSLA association launched its national campaign on October 6, 2025 called “As long as we have strength left” accompanied by the unveiling of the Charcot Institute. This is the first institute entirely dedicated to research on ALS in France. At the heart of this campaign, a 45-second film features fourteen faces, including seven people affected by ALS, raising their finger in front of the camera. A simple but meaningful gesture: in the context of the disease, successfully raising a finger is already a victory in itself.
The film’s musical title, Can’t Slow Down, was written by producer Pone, himself suffering from ALS, and composed solely using his eyes. The ARSLA emphasizes that today, in France, 5 new diagnoses are made every day, while 5 deaths occur daily, with a median life expectancy of 2 to 3 years after diagnosis. With this system, ARSLA invites the general public to mobilize, through donations, support or dissemination, to transform the emergency into collective action.