MotoGP™ rookie Jack Miller will spend a night in hospital on Tuesday following an operation to have metal screws and a plate removed from his right shoulder.
The CWM LCR Honda rider first picked up the injury in 2012 but since the initial incident has sustained further damage on two occasions. Tuesday afternoon’s operation was carried out by Dr. Xavier Mir of Barcelona’s Quiron Dexeus University Hospital.
“We have removed the metal plate he had on the fractured clavicle, which he had been in place for exactly one year,” Dr. Mir explained to motogp.com. “The fracture had been subjected to complications because he had also hurt some ligaments. We have now removed the plate and reconstructed those ligaments.”
“It feels almost like a home from home!” Miller joked during an interview from his hospital bed. “I’m definitely feeling a bit lighter on the right side. Dr. Mir has taken out seven screws and two plates.
“I first broke the shoulder back in Moto3™ in 2012. Then I broke it again at Indianapolis last year, but I completed the rest of the season. Because it hadn’t fully healed the plate got bent. Then I crashed in Jerez testing at the end of last year, pulling out the plate and splitting the bone in two like a piece of wood.
“Last year I had a big operation to put it back together; basically they put two screws on either side of the bone to make it fuse. This year, because the screws weren’t really fixed into the bone anymore it never really stayed tight , so towards the end of this season it started to get a bit loose and I had this awesome-looking lump at the top of my shoulder.
“It’s good to be back to 100% now. I’ll take a couple of days off to let the scar heal and then we’ll be back on the ground for 2015.”
dr Mir believes the Australian rider – who next year takes the unprecedented step from Moto3 to MotoGP – will be back in action in a fortnight’s time:
“He has already been asking me today when he will be able to start motocross training [laughs]! The thing to take into account is the scar, as it had become a hypertrophic scar, but I believe that in a couple of weeks’ time he will be doing motocross once again.”
The full interview with Jack Miller, in which he shares the latest on his recent MotoGP test session in Malaysia, will be available on motogp.com this Wednesday.