Often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease that slowly robs the body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. PLS, in contrast, is caused primarily by degeneration of the upper motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, which results in increasing spasticity and weakness of voluntary muscles. The primary difference between ALS and PLS is that in PLS the spinal motor neurons or lower motor neurons stay intact. Thus, there is no muscle wasting (amyotrophy), which is what causes ALS to ultimately be fatal. However, there are some slow progressing forms of ALS that are difficult to distinguish from PLS.

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