Darts superstar Michael van Gerwen forced to have arm surgery to save career aged 33 and avoid permanent nerve damage
INJURED Michael van Gerwen says his arm operation may save his career and avoid him having permanent nerve damage.
Fresh from winning the Premier League Playoffs in Berlin on Monday night, the 33-year-old went under the knife in Holland on Tuesday to cure Carpal tunnel syndrome in his throwing arm.
Though he will miss the next seven weeks of action – he cannot play this weekend at the World Cup of Darts – he says surgery was the only option.
The three-time world champion developed the issue which is pressure on a nerve in the wrist and causes numbness or pain.
He is targeting a return for the World Matchplay in Blackpool on July 16.
Van Gerwen said: “There was no choice – my doctor is quite experienced.
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“He said to me: ‘If it wasn’t necessary I wouldn’t have done it.
"You still want to have a long career in front of you, let it help you and I’ll make sure you’re going to do well.’
“The doctor then added: ‘Michael if you don’t want to have any problems with it and don’t want to have any permanent nerve damage, you need to let it help.’
“I can say it doesn’t do anything to me now.
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"But if I’m going to make it a bigger problem you can’t help it any more.
“Then you’re going to lose power in your hand, for instance.
“I don’t want to create that problem for myself so this was the right moment for me to have the operation and make sure everything gets right. I’ve still got 10-15 years to go.”