Lou Gehrig may not have had Lou Gehrig's disease

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/100950649.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

...Today, head injuries are taken much more seriously than in Gehrig's day, when baseball players didn't even wear batting helmets. Twins first baseman Justin Morneau has been on the disabled list since July 7, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard of the Wild has been sidelined for a year, both following concussions during games.

No such test (on his spinal cord) could be done on Gehrig because his remains were cremated; his name doesn't even appear in the study. But the Yankees legend had a well-documented history of significant concussions on the baseball field, and perhaps others as a football halfback in high school and at Columbia University.

News reports during his career show that he was knocked unconscious at least four times while at bat, playing first base and in a post-game brawl with fellow baseball icon Ty Cobb. Given that, it's possible that Gehrig's renowned commitment to playing through injuries like concussions, which resulted in his legendary streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive games, could have led to his condition.

Gehrig's symptoms first surfaced in 1938 when his hands began to ache and his legs and shoulders gradually weakened. At spring training in 1939, even casual observers could see that something was quite wrong. That May, he missed his first game in 14 years, ending his historic streak, and by June he was headed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. At the time, ALS was a virtually unknown disease, and doctors described it as a form of "infantile paralysis" resembling polio. With no known cause or cure, it eventually causes the loss of muscle control throughout the body. ALS had been in the medical books since 1869, but after 1939, everyone knew it as "Lou Gehrig's Disease."