It's the same shape as a cashew nut and the most talked about bone since his David Beckham's metatarsal. Now ground-breaking work at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead could help the England captain heal his fractured wrist bone.

During England's 2-1 victory against South Africa last Thursday, Beckham became one of around 40,000 people in Britain each year who break their scaphoid a small bone on the thumb side of the wrist, close to the lower arm bone. He now faces being out of action for at least eight weeks, but surgeons at the Royal Free have developed a type of keyhole surgery using a technique known as the Acutrak Screw to re-align the bone and cut the re-cuperation time to a few weeks.

Mr Nicholas Goddard, consultant orthopaedic surgeon, said: "If he Beckham is in plaster there is nothing to stop him, or anybody else, training, running and keeping fit. There have been some players who have played in plaster, although it is a little disabling.

"But we have got sportsmen back playing contact sports, like rugby and football, in three to four weeks. We have got non-contact sportsmen back within a week to ten days.

"Our treatment means you don't have to go into plaster.

"That's the major advantage. The wrist is not immobilised and the success rate is near 100 per cent."

The operation is carried out as day surgery under general anaesthetic.

Conventional treatment involves setting the wrist in a plaster, but success rates vary depending on where the fracture is.

The minimum recuperation period is eight weeks and patients often find the delay in a return to everyday routine inconvenient and disruptive which is not good if, like Beckham, you have also got Sir Alex Ferguson breathing down your neck.

May 29, 2003 13:30