Pedrosa out for three to four weeks

From motogp.com

Dani Pedrosa is currently laid up in a Barcelona hospital following surgery on his left arm and knee, required due to a testing crash in Qatar that has become even more threatening to his 2009 World Championship chances.

Operated on at the USP Institut Universitari Dexeus in the Spanish city, Pedrosa was concurrently subjected to two operations on his left knee and fractured left distal radius –the procedure for the former taking three hours and involving a rotation skin graft from his thigh to replace lost skin and fat.

Surgery on the knee was performed by Dr Bartolomé Ferreira, who indicated after the procedure that minimal movement would be possible within three weeks after the formation of scar tissue, and that the soonest the Spaniard would be able to bend the appendage would be in one month’s time. This would see Pedrosa ruled out of the final test of the MotoGP preseason at Jerez.

The former MotoGP World Championship runner-up’s arthroscopic arm operation was carried out by his regular surgeon Dr. Xavier Mir, who inserted a titanium screw in the joint that will allow full function within 10 days.

Pedrosa will be released from hospital before the start of next week, but is unlikely to be at 100 percent fitness for the start of the 2009 season. The Repsol Honda rider has undertaken just three complete days of testing so far this year, previously leaving the Sepang run-out a day early after complaining of a lack of recuperation in his knee (previously operated on in December).