At 36 years old Rafael Nadal He won his fourteenth Roland Garros, his 22nd Grand Slam. There is no doubt that he is the best tennis player in the world today, ahead of Novak Djokovic. But the most incredible thing is that he achieved almost all these feats with foot disease that over the years it becomes more and more intense. This is about Muller-Weiss syndromea rare and underdiagnosed cause of chronic pain that affects the navicular bone of the foot. To date, there is no cure other than operation This does not always guarantee the best results. For this reason, with Rafa Nadal, all these years, an intermediate version of the attempt relieve pain before games.
If this disease is quite rare to begin with, then the case of Rafa Nadal is even rarer due to the age at which he first became ill. And it is known that this syndrome is much more common in women aged 40 to 60 years. He began to feel pain when I was only 19 years old. Since it is a degenerative disease, they have only gotten worse since then.
Therefore, it has often been said its possible withdrawal, especially after he had to take a break in the middle of the season due to pain in 2021. If he’s gotten this far, it’s because of injections designed to literally numb his leg. This is one option, but it is not viable for much longer. But then what other treatments are available for Rafael Nadal?
What causes Rafa Nadal’s illness?
To know how to treat a disease, the first step is to understand its origin. And, unfortunately, with the syndrome that Rafa Nadal suffers from, this is not easy.
It was first described in 1927 by the surgeon Walter Muller. Two years later, a radiologist’s description was added to his description. Konrad Weiss, who claimed to have treated patients with similar symptoms. However, the two experts did not agree on what could be the cause of the syndrome. For Muller it had to be congenital disease. Namely; that even though they showed their faces as adults, patients were born with it. However, for Weiss, this could be due to osteonecrosisin which the blood flow within the bone would be altered for various reasons.
It is unclear whether this is a congenital condition or due to bruising or lack of risk in the bones.
Since then, many hypotheses have been put forward. For example, if it is related to the accumulation bruising on the leg. This explains why it happens in athletes like Rafa Nadal. However, it is not clear that this is the reason.
Without knowing its origin, it is not easy to determine the best treatments. Usually chosen relieve pain and, in case it becomes completely unbearable, resort to operation. Basically, that’s what they started doing with Rafa Nadal and they still have some. cartridges for burning.
The danger of playing with a sleeping leg
At the moment, Rafa Nadal has undergone penetration, during which nerve blocked culprit of excruciating pain in the leg.
It lets you play, yes, but mostly his leg is sleeping. That is why it is not something viable in the long run, as it can suffer sprains or other injuries occurs due to the inability to support the foot with adequate sensitivity.
When the leg is awake, you can get a sprain or other injury.
Despite the danger, this is how the tennis player won this last Roland Garros. It’s done aware of their limitations. In fact, a video went viral showing both him and his opponent. Casper Ruddjust before entering the arena. It was seen how the Norwegian stood motionless at the door, and Rafa ran around the room, practicing both movements and hits with a racket. It was even said that it was a strategy to make the opponent nervous.
However, he himself admitted in statements DEAL which was actually the mode of activation, since Rudd’s need for activation at 23 is not the same as at 36. Incidentally, he may have been practicing a gait that could be affected by a nerve block. And the truth is, it worked out well.
Now your next step before the operation is to try radiofrequency injections. This is a very old method which uses the heat coming from medium and high frequency alternating current. It has many uses, from treating cancer to reducing pain. The latter is due to the fact that this increase in temperature may affect the sensory nerves responsible for pain with many pathologies. It will be much more specific than the infiltration that has been carried out on Rafa Nadal so far, so that his condition will improve without the need to put his leg to sleep.
last option
Finally, if all of the above does not go well, only surgery remains. As explained ABC Isabelle Guillenhead of the cartilage department and specialist in foot surgery at the Cemtro clinic, the intervention will consist of an osteotomy.
This is an operation in which the joints are restored.s cutting and reshaping bones. They could have relieved the pain, but unfortunately the procedure would have been too invasive and prevented him from continuing to compete and train. That would mean giving up tennis.
This is a moment that must come sooner or later. However, for the tennis player, something similar happens with the Ingenuity helicopter, which arrived on Mars to make 5 flights in 30 days and carried out almost 30 in a year. He saw what he saw, it makes sense that NASA doesn’t want to fire him. Just as reluctantly as tennis fans around the world stop seeing their beloved Rafa Nadal on the court.
Source: Hiper Textual
