Dani Pedrosa Having Surgery for Arm Pump, Hiroshi Aoyama Will Race at Austin & Argentina

Dani Pedrosa is to undergo surgery on his right forearm, to treat the arm pump that has plagued him for the past year. The Spaniard is to be treated in Spain, by Dr. Angel Villamor, who has treated many other racers for the same problem.

Surgery is scheduled to take place on Friday morning, with a recovery period of four to six weeks afterwards, meaning that Pedrosa is certain to miss both the Austin and Argentina rounds of MotoGP.

As such, Hiroshi Aoyama will replace Pedrosa for the two upcoming rounds.

News of the surgery comes after Pedrosa’s shock announcement that he was temporarily leaving racing to seek urgent treatment for arm pump. The Spaniard has been struggling with the condition for over year, after surgery carried out by Dr. Mir in May last year failed to provide a solution.

In that operation, Dr. Mir opened up the fascia, the membrane enclosing the muscles, using microsurgery, to reduce the surgical impact and limit the chance of complications.

Dr. Villamor has more experience of treating arm pump, having successfully operated on riders such as Julian Simon, Nicky Hayden, and Toni Elias.

Simon explained to the Spanish newspaper AS.com that the procedure that had been successful for him involved not just opening up the fascia, but also removing it.

This procedure, known as a partial fasciectomy, has had success in other sports, such as running and motocross.

The HRC press release makes clear that the operation Pedrosa has elected to follow is much more invasive than his previous operation. Special attention will be paid to the healing of the surgical wound, the press release says.

This means that Pedrosa could be out for longer than just four weeks, only returning once surgery has been assessed as a success by the doctors.

In his absence, Hiroshi Aoyama will take his place. Aoyama is an official HRC test rider, and rode at the first MotoGP test in Sepang earlier this year.

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.