2024-10-10 14:47:00
Over the course of nearly two decades, Rafa Nadal, winner of 22 Grand Slam titles, has suffered all kinds of physical injuries from which he has successfully escaped and extended his success. Until the ailments became more and more frequent, the recovery times longer and the structure, due to age, more complicated.
The iliopsoas injury in his left leg at the 2023 Australian Open was almost permanent. He managed to return to competition but nothing was the same again. He had been away from the circuit for practically a year.
“I think if Rafael hadn’t had so many injuries, he would probably be the best tennis player in history. But he suffered those injuries and there is nothing more to say,” Toni Nadal, his former coach and uncle, said in 2019.
But if something stands out in the Majorcan tennis player it is his mental ability to recover.
Müller-Weiss, Rafa Nadal’s toughest rival
The Spaniard has suffered shoulder injuries, tendinitis in both knees, back pain, abdominal injuries, left psoas injuries, rib injuries, hip injuries, wrist injuries… Up to twenty-four injuries since 2002 and has been absent from seventeen Grand Slam tournaments.
But there is an ailment that has marked the player.
A rare and strangely named disease has caused the scaphoid in Rafa Nadal’s foot to deteriorate to the point of rupture. An injury which, despite the pain it causes, did not prevent the tennis player from winning the Australian Open in 2022.
This is Müller-Weiss disease, which began to cause serious problems in 2005, the day after winning the Madrid Open.
“I woke up lame. I had a little scaphoid disease, which was thinner on one side, and it broke. I had a few difficult months, we went to several doctors and some told me that they didn’t believe I could play at high intensity again”, Nadal confessed in 2020 to singer and presenter Bertín Osborne on the program “Mi casa es la tuya”.
“I went to Madrid to see Dr. Maceiras, who was studying Müller-Weiss disease, which is what I had in my foot. In a two-hour meeting he gave me a thesis about it and it left me floored, but then he gave me the solution,” he said.
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“Since then I have been playing with an insole that deviates the support point of my foot. But with the insole my foot wouldn’t fit in the shoe.”
“I had to fly straight to Portland, to Nike’s world headquarters, where they did all the studying of my foot to make custom shoes, so that the foot could fit the insole. Thanks to that model I was able to continue playing tennis, but I think my body suffered. Knees, hips, back…”, said the tennis player in the same television program.
“Müller-Weiss disease is degenerative and is a tarsal scaphoid dysplasiaa deformity of one of the bones located in the center of the foot and which is essential for its mobility,” he later explained. Pilar Nieto, president of the Official College of Podiatrists of the Valencian Community.
“Also, because of its symptoms, the way it manifests itself, the osteoarthritis that usually occurs and is only noticed through radiology, it is usually difficult to diagnose until it is in an advanced stage,” adds the expert .
Scaphoid, a fundamental bone of the foot
The podiatrist underlines that one of the peculiarities of this disease is precisely this It originates in childhood, but usually does not show symptoms until adulthood.
“The scaphoid is an essential bone in the biomechanics of the foot and is the last to ossify in our development, which, we can say, makes it more vulnerable,” he points out.
“It’s part of the arch of the foot. Furthermore, it forms a joint with the main ankle bone, the talus,” defines the Dr. Antonio Ríos Luna, specialist in traumatology and orthopedic surgery.
“On the outside it articulates with another small but no less important bone, the cuboid. All this engagement of the ankle bones with the small bones of the foot is responsible for our ability to walk bipedally and to be able to perform movements of the foot and ankle,” explains the surgeon.
The traumatologist indicates that the posterior tibial tendon also inserts into the scaphoid bone, which is responsible for supporting the arch of the foot.
“It acts like a support on a wall, preventing it from sinking. In fact, if this tendon gives way, the arch falls and you have a flat foot, practically without an arch,” he explains.
Dr. Ríos comments that, when an athlete trains, Your body tries to strengthen the area that bears greater loads and tension by transporting more calcium. with the aim of making that bone more resistant.
This usually occurs in the bones of weight-bearing joints such as the ankles, feet, knees, or hips.
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Rafael Nadal has been playing with pain since 2005, when Müller-Weiss’ disease began to give him serious problems. EFE/EPA/JAMES ROSS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT[AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT]
” data-medium-file=” data-large-file=” tabindex=”0″ role=”button” alt=”Rafa Nadal” class=”wp-image-253616 lazyload” style=”width:668px;height: auto” src=” data-eio-rwidth=”1024″ data-eio-rheight=”683″/>Rafael Nadal has been playing with pain since 2005, when Müller-Weiss disease began to give him serious problems. EFE/EPA/JAMES ROSS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT[AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT]
“The scaphoid is a fundamental bone of the foot. If the shape of said bone is not adequate because there is a malformation, as in the case of Rafa Nadal, that bone deforms and begins to break. It can start with a small fissure, the very common fissure, which with rest and proper treatment heals properly and doesn’t get worse,” he says.
“But if it is not diagnosed or underestimated it can lead to a fracture with all its consequences. The bone, despite trying to strengthen itself with additional calcium, is unable to withstand repeated overloads one day after another and, in the end, a small trauma fractures it”.
“It’s like when we bend a wire repeatedly and insistently. It’s hot at first, and if we’re patient, we’ll be able to break it, no matter how tough it is,” he says.
In this sense, the traumatologist clarifies that the patient notices progressive pain related to effort and which subsides when he rests. But if the condition progresses, the pain is continuous.
Rafa Nadal said he no longer remembers what it’s like to play without pain. But not even this could stop his brilliant sporting career, which already has 22 Slam titles.
However, there are few things that are impossible for an athlete who has been competing at the highest level for more than 17 years with a damaged foot bone.
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