A1GP news

Enge should return to racing soon

Tomas Enge is now one step closer to his return to racing after successful surgery on his elbow earlier this weekend and his physician, Dr Tim Weber said he was optimistic that the Czech driver will be able to start rehabilitation soon.

Following surgery to repair his fractured left elbow, doctors anticipate that Tomas Enge will make a full recovery from the injuries sustained in a brutal accident nearly one week ago in St. Petersburg, Florida. The surgery, performed on Friday morning at the Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis by Dr. Tim Weber, Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeon at OrthoIndy, went so well that expectations place Enge back behind the wheel of the No. 31 MMPIE/PAWS/Petersen Holdings Ferrari F430 GT possibly as early as The American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on 7 July. Enge is expected to be discharged from Methodist Hospital on Sunday or Monday.

Dr. Weber performed the operation in two hours. According to Weber the surgery went smoothly with the fracture coming together in a great position. Enge's elbow took two plates and a number of screws. The popular driver has no cast and will return in two weeks to OrthoIndy for the removal of the sutures. At that time, Dr. Weber will determine the progress of the healing and then prescribe a rehabilitation routine for Enge. Included in that routine, Weber anticipates, barring any unforeseen complications, to start Enge driving go-karts to exercise the muscles in the elbow and arm. The progress from that point forward will determine the Czech driver's fulltime return to the cockpit of the Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Ferrari.

OrthoIndy, which uses Methodist Hospital for acute orthopaedic trauma surgery, has more than sixty orthopaedic specialists. It is the largest private, full-service orthopaedic practice in the Midwest, and one of the largest in the country. The doctors and nurses at OrthoIndy are specialist in the field of sports injuries and serious traumas such as those sustained by Enge.

Commenting on the surgery, Dr Tim Weber said: "It all went really well. I was very, very pleased with how the elbow came back together again. Every piece of bone keyed right back together so it is exactly how it was. There is no splinter cast so we can encourage movement. We will see him in about two weeks for suture removal. The most important thing is that the overall boning architecture came back very well so we are off to a good start."

He went on to comment on Enge's recovery: "We just need to give it time to start healing and then we can start working on how long he will be off the track. His return will be based on how quickly his motion will return. We will start first by getting his motion back and, once his reflexes are back, we can start moving him towards a go-kart. Depending how well he does will determine how soon he will be back in the car."

"The only remaining treatment will be to radiate the elbow. With this particular injury some of the muscle will turn to bone if left untreated. It is more common the longer that the surgery is out from the injury. If the muscle turns to bone it will hurt his range of motion. We will give Tomas a small dose of radiation which will help eliminate that concern."

Antonin Charouz, seat holder for A1 Team Czech Republic and manager for Tomas Enge said: "I am very happy that Tomas's elbow operation was very successful. I spoke with Tomas right after the operation. He was sleepy and tired but was also very relieved. Like Tomas, I would like to express our gratefulness to all people who have been sending encouraging messages through Tomas-Enge.com website and also through websites of his teams."

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