Rafael Nadal to try novel procedure for foot pain in hopes of avoiding career-ending surgery

Rafael Nadal played the entire Roland Garros with foot injections that rendered that part of his body numb to avoid dealing with the chronic pain he feels.

It's an issue that followed Nadal throughout his career but it's been particularly bad in the past few years as he got older. In order to avoid playing under injections all the time, Nadal is set to try out a new procedure to get rid of the pain for all.

He’s preparing for a nerve intervention treatment and Ian McVeigh, head of the Pain Unit at the CEMTRO Clinic explained what it means:

"It is done with a needle that has an active tip with an electrode. That is inserted into the damaged area and emits radio wave pulses of 20 milliseconds with pauses of another 480. It does not destroy tissues, but rather produces neuromodulation in the nerve. With the electric and magnetic field, the pain fibres are altered, and with it its transmission.”

It's not a novel procedure however it's never been used for such an issue. The hope is that it works so Nadal can avoid an arthrodesis. It's the only other option to get rid of the pain but it means a permanent fixation of the joint which would end his tennis career instantly.