Marc Marquez’s crucial fourth surgery on his right humerus bone has been deemed a success by doctors at Minnesota’s famous Mayo Clinic.
The three-hour procedure was completed on Thursday and allows the six-time MotoGP champion to start post-surgery care and begin his road back once again to full fitness.
The Repsol Honda rider shattered his right humerus in a fall at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez in July 2020, starting a chain of events that has led to this point after battling against a doomed return to action a week later, further damage as a result, multiple bone transplants and an infection.
Admitting last weekend in Mugello that he’s been not just riding but living in constant pain since then, he finally got the go-ahead for the operation halfway through the Italian Grand Prix weekend, prompting him to take a third career hiatus to fly to the USA for the surgery.
Healing not straight but at a rotation to the normal position, the complication meant that the bone has been forcing his arm into an unnatural position and consequently causing pain even when he’s not using it on a MotoGP bike. The surgery, which was deemed satisfactory by Dr Sanchez Sotelo, involved breaking his arm, rotating the bone back into the correct position and then allowing it to heal again naturally.
“Today we had the opportunity to operate on the right humerus of Mr Marc Marquez,” said the chair of the division of shoulder and elbow surgery at the Mayo Clinic.
“The procedure was completed in approximately three hours. Despite the complexity of the procedure, the final outcome was satisfactory.
“Surgery consisted in removing the proximal two screws of the posterior plate previously placed by Dr Samuel Antuna on December of 2020, followed by a rotational humeral osteotomy. Such a procedure involves creating a transverse cut of the humeral bone to rotate the humerus along its long axis. The amount of rotation performed today was approximately 30 degrees of external rotation.
“The humerus was stabilised in the new position using an anterior plate with multiple screws. Surgery was completed uneventfully. We would like to wish Mr Marquez a swift recovery and a successful return to his professional career.”
There remains no idea of when Marquez will be fit to return to action, with the 29-year-old keen to stress at Mugello that it would only come when both he and his doctors feel he is completely ready – a process that could take months.
