The compartment syndrome epidemic has struck again in MotoGP

Fewer and fewer riders on the MotoGP star grid have not undergone surgery due to compartment syndrome that attacks their upper levers and that usually causes them to lose performance in the last third of a race and they continue until surgical intervention is needed. But this epidemic has been spreading for years also in the intermediate category of Moto2 and is starting to attack even the smallest of the three categories. The last one who went through the operating room was this Thursday Raul Fernandez, the RNF Aprilia MotoGP rider and rider like Sergio García Dols, Moto2 rookie, are in the chapel. With the championship just starting, reigning Moto3 champion Izan Guevara, now also a Moto2 rookie, will have to correct this problem in addition to the one he’s been dragging on his wrist.

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This is a problem related to the activity of the riders themselves, because their hands are constantly taking something and that causes the forearms to be in permanent contraction, which should add more which is aggressive in the acceleration and braking of motorcycles. The most common symptoms are fatigue, pain and loss of strength in the hand, as well as decreased coordination in the fingers. This illness ended in 1986 the sports career of the youngest 500cc champion in history at the time, Freddie Spencer. Now it is corrected with a very simple operation and only a week off

The arms -this can also happen with the legs in marathon runners- are made up of blood vessels, nerves and muscle fibers, they are grouped together in compartments. Muscular work causes the muscle to dilate and tense so it ‘chokes’ the blood vessels and nerves and blood flow stops normally and that’s when symptoms appear.

There were people like Casey Stoner who were at that time they drag the problem and resist the operating room. What the Australian did was reduce the volume and tone of the muscles based on stretching, arm strengthening exercises and acupuncture treatment. In addition, he reduced his protein intake and introduced magnesium into his diet. Technically, his team changed the position of the handlebars and the grip of the front brake lever grip and everything seemed to work, but this was not always the case and most visited the operating room to eliminate the problem as soon as possible. can.

Compartment syndrome surgery

2002
Emilio Alzamora (right and left arm)
2004
Dani Pedrosa (right arm)
2006
Dani Pedrosa (left arm)
2008
Jorge Lorenzo (right arm)
2009
Nicky Hayden (right arm)
2010
Stefan Bradl (right arm), Nicky Hayden (right arm)
2013
Scott Redding (right arm), Andrea Iannone (right arm)
2014
Dani Pedrosa (right arm), Cal Crutchlow (right and left arm), Stefan Bradl (right arm)
2015
Dani Pedrosa (third operation right arm), Pol Espargaró (right arm), Alex Rins (left arm and right arm) or Héctor Barberá or Edgar Pons
2016
Alex Márquez (right and left arm), Miguel Oliveira (right and left arm), Jonathan Rea (right arm), Stefan Bradl (right arm)
2019
Fabio Quartararo (right arm)
2020
Cal Crutchlow (right and left arm), Augusto Fernández (right arm), Arón Canet (right arm)
2021
Iker Lecuona (third time right arm), Jack Miller (right arm), Fabio Quartararo (second time right arm), María Herrera (right arm), Aleix Espargaró (second time right arm), Johann Zarco (right arm), Bo Bendsneyder , Manu González, Alex Lowes, Niccolo Antonelli
2023
Izan Guevara (right arm), Raúl Fernández (right arm), Jorge Navarro

There are some pilots where the problem appears in some circuits critics like Assen or Sepang then he will disappear. Marc Márquez or Joan Mir were spared this moment, but, for example, Marc’s younger brother, Alex, had surgery on both arms at the same time in 2016 when he was in Moto2. It is also worth noting that Valentino Rossi and most of his people from the VR46 Riders Academy have also overcome the problem. And there are also the likes of Dani Pedrosa who underwent surgery on his right arm three times during his career as an official driver.

2021 was a particularly critical campaign because five pilots from the star category had to undergo surgery, some of them repeat offenders.