[Roy Emerson]

I think Nadal will recover and win 2 more slams.

[Litotes]

Originally Posted by iriraz

I wonder if surgery is an option for Nadal at this point.Sure,it would mean a long layoff but long term thinking it could be the best decision.

Yes, would be interesting if there is anyone familiar enough with this kind of injury who can say if surgery is an option or not.

[pepita1964]

Yes,the surgery is an option but should be the last one.The worse thing is Rafa abused his body since he was very young and his body was maturing.At 18 year old Rafa had a body of 28 or 30 old man.It's just not natural.It's their fault i mean a big mistake of Rafa's team. Yes he had a huge success,made big money quickly so everything in this life has a price. It is really sad for him.

[masterclass]

Originally Posted by Johnny Groove

http://www.vavel.com/es/tenis/atp/18...%E2%80%9D.html


Toni, like Angel Ruiz Cotorro, the RFET doctor and the player's personal doctor, believes the only viable solution is rest, not an operation, which would prolong his return for up to six months. During the past weeks they have continued with the growth factor treatment of the damaged tendons. But they are not achieving the expected results. Now, as a result of the accumulated effort made over the whole claycourt season, the inflammation (tendinitis) in his patellar joints has caused degeneration of the tendon fibre (tendinosis), thus increasing the period necessary for recovery. In other words, he has chronic pain that demands a minimum of three months' rest and if not treated with absolute rest could develop into patellar chondropathy, an even greater problem.

Did anyone notice this buried in the statement by Uncle Toni about Rafa getting growth factor treatment in recent weeks?

Growth factor agents are banned by the Olympics, see below:

"Erythropoiesis-stimulating agent

Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents such as erythropoietin (EPO), darbepoetin (dEPO), hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) stabilizers, methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta (CERA) and peginesatide (Hematide); growth hormone (hGH), insulin-like growth factors (IGF-1, etc.), fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), hepatocyte growth factors (HGF), mechano growth factors (MGFs), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), chorionic gonadotropin (banned in men only), somatotrophin (growth hormone), insulins and corticotrophins, corticosteroid mimics, and their releasing factor, are banned.

Also banned are any other growth factor affecting muscle, tendon or ligament protein synthesis/degradation, vascularization, energy utilization, regenerative capacity or fiber type switching; and other substances with similar chemical structure or similar biological effects."

If I were an investigative reporter, I think I would follow-up on this...
Edit: Of course, nothing wrong with getting necessary treatment, but if it was something banned, then that means he would have been prohibited from competing in the Olympics.

Respectfully,
masterclass

[Just like heaven]

Originally Posted by masterclass

Did anyone notice this buried in the statement by Uncle Toni about Rafa getting growth factor treatment in recent weeks?

Growth factor agents are banned by the Olympics, see below:

If I were an investigative reporter, I think I would follow-up on this...

Respectfully,
masterclass

That type of procedure is not banned by WADA. And other tennis players have also used it, including Haas, Tsonga, Simon, Monfils or Verdasco( right this summer).

[LoveFifteen]

Nadal should probably take the rest of the year off. There is no reason to come back before the Australian season.

[masterclass]

Originally Posted by Just like heaven

That type of procedure is not banned by WADA. And other tennis players have also used it, including Haas, Tsonga, Simon, Monfils or Verdasco( right this summer).

Sorry, Just like heaven, based on what you say, I'm still unsure exactly what treatment he has been getting. The quote from Toni is pretty general "growth factor treatment". Do you have a source of which specific growth factor treatment he has been getting? Thanks in advance if you can provide one.

It seems that there are a lot on growth factors on the banned list.

EDIT: Never mind, I found it myself. He appears to have been getting plasma rich in growth (PRGF-Endoret) factors. I'm guessing this is essentially what is generically called PRP, which was formerly banned by WADA, but then permitted as of Jan 1, 2011.

Respectfully,
masterclass

[Ash86]

Originally Posted by masterclass

Sorry, Just like heaven, based on what you say, I'm still unsure exactly what treatment he has been getting. The quote from Toni is pretty general "growth factor treatment". Do you have a source of which specific growth factor treatment he has been getting? Thanks in advance if you can provide one.

It seems that there are a lot on growth factors on the banned list.

EDIT: Never mind, I found it myself. He appears to have been getting plasma rich in growth (PRGF-Endoret) factors. I'm guessing this is essentially what is generically called PRP, which was formerly banned by WADA, but then permitted as of Jan 1, 2011.

Respectfully,
masterclass

It's not even that - he's had the treatment since 2010 and it has never been banned. You just need to make WADA/ITF etc. aware and get a medical exemption - it involves taking the patient's own blood, spinning it at high velocity to increase the plasma & then injecting that to where the tendinitis is. Basically a way of hastening the treatment of tendinitis so it heals faster. No "outside agent" is used - it's your own blood and it's a legitimate treatment for a chronic injury. Not giving you an advantage in any way but helping the natural healing process move quicker.

No need to be alarmist. If Nadal was doing something WADA banned, I doubt it would be openly being reported on. He's talked about it at length. Lot's of players have had similar treatments - Verdasco, Kobe Bryant, A-Rod (baseball) etc.

[wfrw07]

You really have to wonder at a certain point if it makes any sense for Nadal to ever step on a hard court again.

[duong]

Originally Posted by masterclass

EDIT: Never mind, I found it myself. He appears to have been getting plasma rich in growth (PRGF-Endoret) factors. I'm guessing this is essentially what is generically called PRP, which was formerly banned by WADA, but then permitted as of Jan 1, 2011.

yes it's obviously his usual PRP treatment but it's quite an important and worrying news imo that this treatment which had indeed made miracles for him since 2010 (he used it and hence recovered quickly several times, not like in 2009) didn't work this time, that was the main info from Johnny Groove's article imo.

That's the pessimistic point I get about him in the future in this article.

Because he had had to use PRP treatments quite often since the beginning of the year, what will he do if this has lost its effect ?

[duong]

nobody to give news about Nadal's press conference ?

from what I read on French websites, he revealed that his knee problem would be a "Hoffa's syndrome", else called "fat pad impingement" :

http://orthopaedicsports.com/2011/03...ior-knee-pain/

it seems that it's a small injury but very painful which can be treated by rest and anti-inflammatories but it's not sure it works. If it doesn't work, a surgery can take the fad pad off but Nadal wants to avoid that.

[Johnny Groove]

Yes, he had the press conference today to say he has the Hoffa's Syndrome, a painful symptom to do with the fat padding in the back of the knee.

Rafa says he will play when he is ready to play, and may alter his schedule in 2013 and beyond, finally. Hopefully more clay and less hard courts. And less doubles on hard. Toni is targeting Davis Cup in September, perhaps the Asian swing, but not much later after that.

I predict latest, he'll be back for Paris Indoors.

[masterclass]

Video from press conference and article

Use your favorite web translator to translate the article if you don't understand Spanish.

Respectfully,
masterclass

[Chirag]

Originally Posted by Snowwy

Yeah, if he is back for the WTF, there is no way he is winning it.

too early to tell .Depends on the draw

[Dougie]

He should take a proper rest, since he won´t be fit for US Open anyway, why rush it at all. I mean, the indoor tournaments are not THAT important and he won´t be a factor at WTF anyway since he won´t be getting much match practice. He should take the rest of the year off.

But I still think there is something odd about his injury. He played a normal, full clay season and won pretty much everything ( so played a lot of matches), lost at WImbledon but seemed fine, and then suddenly developed an injury this bad. It´s a sensitive issue, and I´m not claiming anything one way or the other...but it is kinda weird.