Merely a few weeks after announcing that he will slowly be returning to the court after a hip replacement earlier on in the year, Murray’s career is once again in question. Previously he was urged by his surgeon, referred to as the royal surgeon after operating on the Queen Mother’s hip a couple of years ago, to continue playing. Now he was advised to stop immediately due to the high possibility of cobalt poisoning in his blood if he does stay.

Dr Hannes Rudiger is a medical practitioner at the Schulthess Clinic in Zurich. He has advised Murray to stop playing immediately or otherwise face the catastrophic consequences of cobalt poisoning in his blood. Murray suffered hip resurfacing surgery early on this year and was pain-free for the first time in quite a while after suffering severely from his hip previously.

Since he felt great and was urged by his surgeon to continue playing, that was what he did. He performed very well being back on the court and won the European Open title last week. Dr Rudiger, however, had dampened the joyous moment when he urged Murray to stop immediately. Dr Rudiger stated that he didn’t even think that it would be possible that someone would perform so well after a hip replacement with an artificial hip, but he is concerned about the high risk involved if the player continues to play.

The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing

This procedure has already been performed for the past ten years in Switzerland, although it is still relatively new in England. With the system, a prosthetic hip is implanted to replace the injured bone. Two parts of the bone then rub against each other with their metal surfaces. Dr Rudiger stated that often this kind of surgery had had catastrophic results in Switzerland.

He stated that not only did these hips had to be replaced much sooner than their alternative and that contributed significantly to damage to the body, but they also caused poisoning. Even though Murray did take the option of a slow return to playing competitively, he did now step up to the level of playing singles once again. This is very worrisome for Dr Rudiger.

He explained that the stop and go movement, especially prevalent in tennis, is very damaging to the prosthesis. He is so much in opposition to this procedure that he refuses to do that kind of surgery at all. He stated that these movements which are so damaging to the prosthetic hip cause abrasion to the surface of the prosthetic and that would cause cobalt poisoning in the player’s blood. This will lead to further terrible consequences like the bone mass being attacked, visual damage as well as damage to the nervous system. Dr Rudiger furthermore stated that he strongly advises anyone against that kind of surgery and that the risk is too high and the consequences too severe. Especially for someone with Murray’s career.