BIKES: Neck injury hits Plater recovery

Plater (41), from Lincolnshire, had hoped to join his HM Plant Honda team at the Isle of Man TT to fulfil PR obligations but instead will undergo additional surgery on Wednesday to repair the break in his neck between the sixth and seventh vertebrae.

The reigning British Supersport Champion broke his left arm in two places following his North West crash and underwent two operations to plate the broken bones and relieve a build-up of pressure affecting the nerves in his arm.

However he continued to experience shoulder and chest pain following the surgery and the neck injury was identified last week following an MRI scan.

Plater will now have an operation at a specialist hospital to carry out a bone graft from his pelvis and realign and plate the damaged vertebrae from the front.

A second operation will then be carried out next week to plate the vertebrae from the back.

Plater's unusually high pain threshold added to the length of time it took to determine the extent of the damage to his neck.

"I thought by now I'd be well on the road to recovery following the crash at the North West, so this is definitely a set-back," said Plater, who is contesting the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship.

"I know I wasn't feeling right though which is why I went back in to hospital for more tests last week and I'm now just relieved that we know what the problem is but more so that it can be fixed.

"Who'd have thought that having such a high pain threshold would be a negative thing," he added.

"I know people can't understand how it's taken until now to discover the injury in my neck but it probably would have been quicker with someone who has a more normal tolerance level of pain.

"The X-rays showed up clear as they aren't so detailed, but because of the neck and shoulder pain I was having when I returned home the consultant in Lincolnshire ordered a scan of my head and neck to double check.

"The best way to describe the injury is imagine each vertebra is a train carriage and then there's the link arm in between – it's the link bit which is broken quite badly," explained last year's Senior TT winner.

"The very fortunate thing though is that the broken bits appear to have fallen away from my spinal cord, otherwise the picture could have been different."

Plater is hopeful he will make a rapid recovery following the operations and is intent on returning to action in the British championship as soon as he is passed fit.

"It's been explained to me that people that have this type of neck injury and operation usually return to totally normal life pretty quickly, so I'm hopeful that will be the case for me and I see no reason why it shouldn't be.

"With my arm, the swelling is beginning to go down and I've got more movement in my fingers now. It’s all still pretty bruised but heading in the right direction so I’m hopeful more feeling will start to come back soon,” he said.

“I’m gutted that I won’t be able to make it to the TT to be with the team and spend time with the fans, but getting fixed is my priority at the moment.

“The pain is quite uncomfortable in my neck and shoulder so I’m pleased we now know the way ahead and I’m looking forward to firstly getting back to normal and then seeing how I can try to regain the Superstock championship lead.”