The recurrence of Dani Pedrosa's shoulder problem during the MotoGP season opener at Qatar came as a blow to the Spaniard. Pedrosa had been hoping that his shoulder was fully healed, after a winter of rest for the problem. But as the race progressed under the floodlights at Losail, Pedrosa started to suffer pain in his shoulder, and weakness and numbness in his left arm, leaving the Repsol Honda rider unable to use the clutch at the end of the race, and having difficulty in getting the bike to turn as he would like.
A medical examination revealed the cause of the problem: Pedrosa has suffered stretching in his brachial plexus, the bundle of nerves located under the collarbone which control movement in the shoulder and arm. The injury was a by-product of Pedrosa's crash at Motegi, caused by a stuck throttle, in which Pedrosa broke his collarbone, stretching his brachial plexus at the same time.
According to the Spanish racing website Motocuatro.com, prior to the Jerez MotoGP race, Pedrosa underwent further medical tests to review his condition at the renowned Dexeus Institut in Barcelona, the medical center for so many Spanish MotoGP riders. Dr Xavi Mir, who examined Pedrosa, declared afterwards that Pedrosa's collarbone had healed perfectly, but the Spaniard's stretched brachial plexus is continuing to be a problem. The difficulty with injuries involving the brachial plexus was the length of time they required for recovery, Dr Mir explained, adding that this is exactly the process that Pedrosa finds himself in.
Pedrosa's recovery was proceeding as expected, Dr Mir added, describing his progress as "adequate." But further surgery on the shoulder had not been ruled out, Dr Mir said, if only for Pedrosa's peace of mind, with the long break between the Jerez and Estoril races offering the ideal time for such an intervention. Dr Mir also revealed that Pedrosa had considered skipping the Jerez MotoGP round, but had decided against it as not racing would make little difference to the rate of recovery. "Stopping is not a solution either," Dr Mir said, emphasizing that what was required most of all, was a good deal of patience. Pedrosa could expect a recurrence of the numbness and lack of strength during the latter stages of the race at Jerez, with the best scenario currently being that the pain and lack of feeling would be less than at Qatar.
Despite Pedrosa's problems, Dr Mir revealed that the former 250cc World Champion had been lucky. Pedrosa had come "very close to suffering a paralysis of the left arm," Dr Mir explained. If Pedrosa had damaged or severed his brachial plexus instead of merely stretching it, his racing career would have been over altogether.
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Comments
Disappointing for the championship.
Glad he will still be racing though. Hopefully, as he now knows to expect the problem, it won't put him in quite as bad a mood as he was clearly in at the post-race conference in Qatar.
Pain
usually puts you in a bad mood and I'm not sure it's gonna change.
Glad he can make it to Jerez where he was brilliant last year...until Lorenzo flew by.
His crash at Motegi is such a shame, all this for a stuck throttle really sounds like a rookie mistake from his crew.
A Gamble ?
Not for me to judge, but surely it would make sense for him to skip Jerez.
In light of what Dr.Mir is saying,the full recovery is a lengthy process.
Best case scenario for Dani is that he wins the race.Worst case scenario would be for the loss of feeling to strike suddenly during the race without warning resulting in a crash which may compromise the well being of his competitors and himself.
Too much of a gamble I say,but I hope I'm proved wrong.
Were it not Jerez,but Le Mans comming up this weekend,I'm sure Dani,Puig and Dr.Mir would excersise a little more caution.
Nerve damage is a tricky thing.Valentino knows his condition and expects to lose a little due to a lack of strength.Dani goes in not knowing when or even if the mamba will strike with a dose of neurotoxic venom.
Holding thumbs he's okay all weekend.
Scary
"very close to suffering a paralysis of the left arm" I remember the news comments last year when they thought he was going to have to retire. Glad he is still able to compete, hopefully he can get everything in proper order and fight for some more wins and a chance at the title.
He had a really good year last year, too bad the "stuck throttle" ruined the end. A mistake that should not happen in this professional environment.
Good luck Dani in getting back to 100%, we need it for some more exciting races!
Me thinks he should race and
Me thinks he should race and collect as much points as possible, they might come in handy at the end of the season, championships are won in the bad days. I'm pretty sure him riding @90% can still place respectable top 5 positions , so I wouldn't let my "teammate" just run away with the points.
Pedrosa knows the worst case scenario already
Christ if he can race to third place with a gammy arm then he's not in too bad a shape! He'll guts it out and take another healthy haul of points. Fingers crossed this situation doesn't spoil his season. Dani is really overdue a good dollop of luck.
Hard to believe
"Stopping is not a solution either," Dr Mir said,..."
Hard to believe that the stress of riding a bike at the limit, especially continuously during a 45 minute race, would not aggravate the injury and prolong healing.
Well
It's really difficult for me to say anything ... except that those injuries (Dani, Vale, RdP, ...) are a pain for us because they affect competitiveness and the show ... but mainly for the riders.
Sincerly I would be glad to have a couple of boring races and then have everyone healed than the other way around.
I can only wish all my best to Dani and hope a full recovery (I don't care about a quick one)
The old BP
I only hope that he is able to recover fully.This injury is far more serious than most posters can ever imagine.
28 years after my plexus
28 years after my plexus injury accident my arm came back from full paralysis to function for approx. 60%.
this is no injury to joke about, however doctors are right by saying that racing is not going to have a negative effect on the issue.
We have to remember Pedrosa is a motorcycle racer and will want to race if at all possible.
Recovery, if possible, will take a long time (a lot longer than just a few weeks or months).
I still race at club level in the US because motorcycle riding is so much a part of who I am ,regardless of how well my arm works.
Therefore I expect we will see Pedrosa back on the grid.