A rare disease with a strange name has caused Rafa Nadal’s scaphoid to break. But this injury, despite the pain it causes, has not prevented the tennis player from winning his 21st Grand Slam, ahead of Djokovic and Federer.
Rafa Nadal says that he no longer remembers what it is to play without pain. EFE/FELIPE TRUEBA
Rafa Nadal has won the Australian Open despite having everything against him: his rival was 10 years younger, he had two sets against, the type of court was not exactly his favorite, and he was also coming out of a major foot injury . In fact, the tennis player has been dragging this problem for many years.
Müller-Weiss disease began to give him serious problems in 2005, the day after he won the Madrid Open.
“I woke up lame. I had a small disease of the scaphoid, which was thinner on one side, and it split. I had a difficult few months, we went to different doctors and some told me that they did not think I could play at a high intensity again », Nadal confessed in 2020 to the singer and presenter Bertín Osborne in the program «My house is yours».
«I went to Madrid to see Dr. Maceiras, who was studying Müller-Weiss disease, which is what I had in my foot. In two hours of meeting, he wrote me a thesis about it and left me in the dumps, but later he gave me the solution »,
Nadal tells.
«Since that time, I have played with an insole that deflects the point of support of my foot. But with the insole my foot didn’t fit in the shoe.”
“I had to take a direct plane to Portland, to the Nike world headquarters, where they did all the study of my foot to make me custom shoes, so that the foot could go in with the insole. Thanks to that template I was able to continue playing tennis, but I think that because of it the body suffered. Knees, hips, back … », recounted 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 midfoot and that is essential for its mobility”,
Explain Pilar Nieto, president of the Official College of Podiatrists of the Valencian Community.
“In addition, due to its symptoms, its way of appearing, the osteoarthritis that usually occurs and that is only perceptible through radiology, it is usually difficult to diagnose until it is advanced,” adds the expert.
Scaphoid, a key bone in the foot
The podiatrist points out that one of the peculiarities of this disease is that It originates in childhood, but usually does not give symptoms until adulthood.
“The scaphoid is an essential bone in the biomechanics of the foot and it is the last to ossify in our development, which we can say makes it more vulnerable”,
points.
“It is part of the plantar arch. In addition, it is forming an articulation with the main bone of the ankle, the talus”, defines the doctor Antonio Ríos Luna, specialist in traumatology and orthopedic surgery.
“On the outside, it articulates with another small bone, but no less important, the cuboid. All that meshing of the ankle bones with those little bones in the foot is what’s responsible for us being able to walk bipedally and being able to do foot and ankle movements.”
describes the surgeon.
The traumatologist indicates that the posterior tibial tendon is also inserted into the scaphoid bone, which is responsible for giving support to the plantar arch.
«It acts as a strut would on a wall, preventing it from collapsing. In fact, if this tendon fails, the plantar arch falls and a flat foot is produced, with practically no arch », he explains.
Dr. Ríos comments that, as an athlete trains, your body tries to reinforce the area that supports greater loads and tensions by taking more calcium in order to make that bone more resistant.
This usually occurs in bones of load-bearing joints such as the ankles, feet, knees, or hips.
“The scaphoid is a key bone in 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 becomes deformed and begins to break. It can start with a small crack, the so frequent fissure, which with rest and proper treatment consolidates correctly and does not go any further”,
precise.
“But if it is not diagnosed or is underestimated, it can lead to a fracture with all its consequences. The bone, despite trying to strengthen itself with extra calcium, is not able to withstand repeated overloads one day after another and, in the end, a small trauma fractures it».
“It is the same as when we repeatedly and insistently bend a wire. At first it heats up and, if we are patient, we will be able to break it no matter how resistant it is, ”
express.
In this sense, the traumatologist clarifies that the patient notices progressive onset pain related to effort and that it subsides when he rests. But if the picture progresses, the pain is continuous.
Rafa Nadal says that he no longer remembers what it is to play without pain. But not even that has been able to stop his dazzling sports career, which already has 21 Grand Slams. The last one, achieved after an epic comeback when the game seemed lost.
However, few things are impossible for an athlete who has been competing at the highest level for more than 15 years with a damaged foot bone.
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