The news of Rafael Nadal’s injury was yet another thunderbolt for his fans, who were expecting to see the Spaniard achieve the perfect start to the season before starting the transition on his beloved clay.
The start of the Spanish champion’s season was however the best of his career and made fans dream. Indian Wells’ final loss to Taylor Fritz, after 20 straight wins and 3 trophies, wasn’t the worst of things after the 35-year-old announced he had suffered a stress fracture in his third left costal arch.
Recovery times for Nadal are now estimated at 4 or even 6 weeks, meaning the Mallorcan won’t be able to play the Madrid Masters 1000 or the Italian Open.
Moreover, in recent days, doubts have arisen regarding the treatment Nadal received on the court in his last match at Indian Wells. Journalist José Moron, from the Spanish site “Punto de break”, asked for clarification from a physiotherapist who works on the ATP circuit and whose name has not been specified.
ATP physiotherapist explains Nadal’s treatment
The physiotherapist said: “What the tournament physiotherapist (from Indian Wells) has done is a protocol that exists for a spinal checkup.
Rafa told him that he also felt pain and a feeling of blockage in his back and therefore he activated this protocol. The thoracic vertebrae are connected to the rib via cartilage and this forms a joint called the costotransversa.
The problem was there. It is true that, now knowing the results of the analyzes (of Rafa), spinal manipulation is contraindicated for the problem that we discovered later.
So what he did may have made his pain worse. What’s clear is that it didn’t make him feel any better. Nor can it be said that the damage was caused by the manipulation performed by the physiotherapist.
Nobody can guarantee it. The only thing we can with certainty is that given the diagnosis, the treatment Rafa received was not the right one” Apart from that, the Puntodebreak site concluded by stating that the 3 minutes available to a player to benefit from medical intervention on the court is sometimes insufficient to really identify the problem.
It is therefore possible that with a little more time, physiotherapists may eventually better understand the injuries and, therefore, treat them in the most appropriate way.
