Peter Hickman confirms surgery to address 'complications' with nerve damage following Isle of Man TT crash
Peter Hickman is due to undergo surgery on Friday after revealing he has “some complications” with nerve damage following his accident in qualifying at the Isle of Man TT.
The 14-time TT winner came off his 8TEN Racing BMW in a high-speed spill at Kerrowmoar and has been out of action since.
In a video update on social media, the English rider admitted he remains unsure over a timeframe for his racing return.
“The majority of people the last couple of weeks have expected me to be riding, which I would love to be, but we’ve got some complications unfortunately on my right side, believe it or not,” said Hickman.
“My right arm is not quite working the way it should do – I’ve severely damaged my brachial plexus nerve, which also means my axillary nerve on my right side – so my deltoid muscle is not firing at all, which means I can’t lift my right arm very well at the minute.
“So, I’m currently in London, just got set up at Brands Hatch ready for the next Bennetts British Superbike weekend… basically tomorrow I’m having an operation, so Friday the 25th of July, which is operation day with a couple of nerve specialists, to operate on me and figure out exactly what’s going on.”
Hickman said that MRI scans had failed to show the “exact” cause of nerve damage he suffered in the crash but was hopeful of having a clearer understanding of the problem following surgery.
“The MRIs that I’ve had have shown that I have severe nerve damage, but they don’t say exactly what’s wrong, so until we go in tomorrow [Friday], we won’t know the actual outcome,” he added.
“But fingers crossed, maybe by tomorrow evening or Saturday morning, we’ll know exactly what’s going on, because I’ve been having a lot of people asking for updates, and a lot of people asking when I’m riding a bike again.
“At this moment right now, I don’t really know, but in the next couple of days, fingers crossed, we will do.”
Hickman’s 8TEN Racing team-mate, Davey Todd, is competing this weekend at the British Superbike round at Brands Hatch in Kent.
Earlier in July, Hickman attended the Southern 100 for the first time on the Isle of Man, where Todd sealed a Superbike treble, including victory in the blue riband Solo Championship race.