#Roland #Garros #questions #raised #Rafael #Nadals #infiltrations
Stronger than anything. Even the pain. On Sunday, June 5, Rafael Nadal (36 years old) entered a little more in history by winning a fourteenth coronation at Roland-Garros against Casper Ruud (6-3, 6-3, 6-0). sound 22me Grand Slam. All this, despite a pain in his foot caused by his Muller-Weiss syndrome that has affected him since 2005. And that, nobody can take it away from him.
Aware of going against what his body tells him, the Spanish alien wants to “treat” himself before considering the rest of his career. We take stock of the medical follow-up of Spanish in four questions.
Are these injections allowed?
The answer is yes. Otherwise, obviously, Rafael Nadal would never have mentioned it. His degenerative and incurable disease is characterized by a deformation of one of the bones located in the central part of the foot, essential for mobility.
But for a year and a half, the pain has become more and more intense and has forced him to be followed daily by the Spanish federation doctor, Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro.
This forced him to perform multiple injections of xylocaine to numb the pain. And they are allowed in tennis as they are “local and do not diffuse into the bloodstream”evoked, in the columns of the team, Doctor Olivier Rouillon, doctor at Racinq 92.
Without that, for sure, the Spaniard could not have continued the tournament. He himself says: “it was due a drink. Clearly I won’t do it again. But after my match against Corentin Moutet (twome round), I couldn’t walk when I got to the hotel. »
What is your “radiofrequency” treatment that is starting this week?
From today, the Spaniard embarks on a treatment “pulsed radiofrequency”. It consists of applying an electrical current to the motor nerve to heal it.
Your goal is “create the absence of pain permanently” without having to completely numb the foot as was the case during the fortnight. Precision of great importance, the infiltrations carried out during Roland-Garros made it possible to numb the sensory nerve and not the motor nerve in direct link with the nervous system.
What risks do you take?
If your treatment doesn’t work, the Bull of Manacor will be forced to undergo surgery. The latter will no longer allow him, except for a miracle, to play at a very high level.
Another option: the colossus with the foot of clay can continue playing under infiltration unless the rules change. Nadal is stronger than pain. But for how long ? “My career has never been a priority compared to [s] us happiness, trusted on Sunday. Life is always more important than another title”confided, on Sunday, the king of clay crowned in Paris with an anesthetized foot.
What do other athletes say?
Big names in tennis praised the incredible performance of the Spaniard. Starting with Casper Ruud, his opponent in the final: “I am one more victim that he destroyed on this court in the final. […] He is the best clay court player. He has the perfect game for the dirt.”.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, his two best rivals locked in twenty Grand Slam titles, are silent, for the time being. In France, the cyclist Thibaut Pinot, an athlete in a discipline where suspicion of doping reigns, tweeted about Nadal’s infiltrations: “Today’s Heroes…”. A feeling that opens the debate on the place given to sports performance to the detriment of physical integrity.