MotoGP: Nicky Hayden Has Wrist Operation

Hot off a points-scoring position at last weekend’s German Grand Prix, Nicky Hayden once again went under a surgeon’s knife this past Wednesday to improve mobility in his troubled right wrist. With half of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship now complete, Hayden took advantage of the month-long summer break to fix the joint to possibly be ready for his home race, the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 8–10.

According to a press release issued by the Drive M7 Aspar team, Dr. James Chao, a microvascular surgeon who specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the hand, performed the 90-minute operation at the OasisMD Plastic Surgery & Medical Spa in Encinitas, California. Medical term for the procedure is a proximal row carpectomy with radial styloidectomy, which involves removal of several bones in the wrist, including the scaphoid. Chao reported that the operation was a success and Hayden now has increased range of motion in his wrist.

This latest news is a positive development from what Hayden told me last month at the Dutch TT in Assen, Holland. “At some point,” he said, “I’m going to need a bigger surgery to fix the problem. With that, I’ll lose more movement, so that’s why I don’t want to do it too soon. It’s what James Toseland did: take out all the bones and fuse the wrist. You have no pain, but you can’t move it.”

The operation Hayden underwent on Wednesday is said to provide patients with improved range of motion, as well as increased grip strength and reduced pain. According to his older brother, Tommy, Hayden had little to no range of motion in his wrist prior to the surgery. The 2006 MotoGP world champion is currently 13th overall in points with nine rounds remaining in this year’s championship.