Second wrist surgery for Nicky Hayden
Having struggled for mobility since his post-Mugello wrist surgery, former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden has gone back under the knife.
Hayden had hinted at the possibility of upcoming surgery at last Sunday's Sachsenring round:
"I need to go home and get healthy. I keep 'crying' about it and it sounds like I'm complaining, but the truth is that I'm really suffering a lot and it's tough to ride this bike with one arm. I'll go home and see some doctors and see what we can do."
On Wednesday morning at 6am the Drive M7 Aspar rider duly underwent an operation that lasted an hour and a half, carried out by Dr. Chao at the Oasis Center in San Diego.
The medical term for the procedure is a 'proximal row carpectomy with radial styloidectomy' which involves the removal of a row of small bones in the wrist in order to increase mobility within the joint.
Dr. Chao reported that the operation had been a success and that Hayden now has increased range of motion in his wrist.
Hayden will soon begin therapy and has until the end of the summer break, at Indianapolis on August 8-10, to regain fitness.
The American tweaked his right wrist during round three at Jerez, the ongoing inflammation prompting the #69 to withdraw from Mugello and head for the previous surgery.
Hayden, in the first year of a two-year deal at Aspar, is 13th in the world championship, one place and four points behind the top Production Honda rider Scott Redding.
