Versier: “If we operate on Rafa Nadal, he will no longer be able to run”

The withdrawal of Rafa Nadal for the US Open puts the complicated ailment suffered by the Spanish tennis player back in the media spotlight. In L'Equipe they have spoken with a specialist doctor who has affirmed what had already been said on several occasions, that it is not possible to intervene. The reason is that Rafa could never run again and continue his professional career …

The former head of the department of orthopedic surgery at the Vincennes military hospital, Gilbert Versier, who also operates in the Tour de France, describes the origin and symptoms of the Muller-Weiss syndrome suffered by Rafael Nadal.

“It usually affects people who have flat feet. It is congenital.Some have hollow feet: the arch, that is, the distance between the inside of the foot and the ground, is very deep. Others have completely collapsed arches with a valgus foot, which favors this type of pathology. This causes compression of the navicular bone that becomes necrotic. It is the death of the bone, it is not eaten, it has lost its vascularity, “Dr. Versier began his explanation.

“A stress fracture can also have a cause. They are bones that do not heal well. It is enough that the fracture passes in the area where the vascularization arrives, where the vessels are, and that it can be followed by necrosis. But it is a pathology very rare, whose origin is not very clear. It is not necessarily a pathology that evolves very quickly. The degradation that will appear over time is quite painful, but osteoarthritis is often late. They are pathologies that we know well but rather in women around 50 years of age. We don't see that in a young guy, “he admitted.

Versier rejects a surgical intervention in Nadal's case. “This adaptation of the foot to the ground is blocked and the patient will only be able to walk. He will no longer be able to run. That is why we delay this intervention and reserve it for patients who are extremely painful and can no longer even walk properly. This is not the case with Nadal, of course. Everything that is surgical, the resection of a part of the bone or the graft taking bone from the pelvis to block the joint at the foot level and eliminate pain, no longer allows the practice of sports at a high level, “he said.