Diagnosis is complete Achilles tendon injury: Berardi was injured against Verona on his return to the field after another stop, and it seems impossible that he will be able to return for the European Championship.
The national team has lost Domenico Berardi: the Neroverde striker may not be available for the European Championship. In fact, the player will undergo surgery. Professor Enrico Castellacci spoke about it, speaking exclusively to the microphones of TvPlay. The national team doctor explained that the player suffered a not so unusual injury.
“Berardi’s injury,” Castellacci revealed, “is something much more frequent than one might imagine, then when it happens to such important players, as with Spinazzola, it is always a bit special.” Afterwards, the professor wanted to send a hug to the boy, “He will have to really get strong to fight this negative event, but he will definitely recover.”
“These injuries, 90 percent of the time, are never of traumatic origin but of degenerative origin. Evidently the boy already had a degenerative process of the tendon, which is not always inflammatory. The tendon gives way and suddenly ruptures. There is also a genetic predisposition. It’s not a physical fragility problem, there may be a genetic predisposition for the tendon specifically, but in general it’s not related. “
Berardi forced to say goodbye to European: “Here’s how he could have prevented the injury “
According to the professor, paradoxically, the only way to prevent these injuries is to have an ongoing inflammatory process. “With inflammation we get checked by the specialist who will recognize the presence of a degenerative stage of the tendon. When there is no pain, however, it is extremely dangerous. As happened to Berardi you can get to tendon rupture without having alarm bells. “
“To decrease the likelihood of these injuries today we use regenerative medicine. We have been doing stem cell infiltrations for years to improve the condition of the tendon, strengthen it, and decrease the chances that it will rupture. This, however, is done when we know that a particular player has an ongoing process of degeneration. If Berardi has never had ailments in the past, it is obvious that no one has ever noticed.”
Castellacci also explained that there is no correlation between the meniscus injury and the ruptured tendon. “The latter certainly would have ruptured: it could have happened at any time. If there is a predisposition and nothing is done to slow this down, it would have happened sooner or later.”
When there is a degenerative process a specialist can tell by a simple ultrasound scan. Just notice that the tendon tends to enlarge and is therefore at risk of rupturing. “The surgery that Berardi will undergo is ordinary,” the interviewee concluded, “and it is almost always successful. There are advanced techniques, the only problem is that the recovery will be long. Berardi will definitely miss the European Championships, it will take 5 to 7 months depending on how the boy responds to treatment. “