Jack Miller’s collarbone “like a zigzag” from past MotoGP injuries

Shoulder problems have dominated MotoGP headlines in recent months, with reigning champion Marc Marquez still recovering from last season’s injuries and Maverick Vinales stepping back from COTA due to a displaced screw.

While those cases involved dislocations and ligament damage, collarbone fractures remain the most common form of shoulder injury, most recently for Jorge Martin at Motegi last season.

Airbag technology has reduced the frequency of collarbone breaks. However, they can never be eliminated, and many MotoGP riders carry accumulated damage from accidents earlier in their careers or during off-road training.

Jack Miller is among them, describing his right collarbone as “like a zigzag” due to eight previous fractures and resulting operations.

“It's something I worked on really hard over the winter,” Motomatters.com quotes Miller as saying.

"From all the collarbone damage that I've had, I've broken this collarbone eight times, so the thing's like a zigzag basically all the way along, because you've had it replated, ripped the plate out, have it replated, rip the plate out.

"It was pretty bad there at one point, and where all the tendons go over the top, all mine kind of funnel to one area, they don't spread out evenly because the collarbone's not even.

“It's something I had a lot of issues with in 2020, and then it kind of came good, I had a certain routine.”

Although the collarbone issues became much more manageable in recent seasons, tests with Yamaha at the end of last year revealed a significant imbalance.

"We found out that my right shoulder was functionally like 50% of the left shoulder, I was struggling more in right-handed corners than left-handed corners,” Miller said.

“I understood that I needed to work, so working with a trainer, trying to build strength up during the winter basically to try to compensate for that.”

The 31-year-old explained that the body naturally adjusts to avoid the pain.

“Once the pain goes away, you shut it out, but you don't really understand that you're not functioning.

“You start putting bandaids on it, you don't put your elbow in the right spot, you kind of put yourself in a position to protect yourself basically. It's sh*t. That's what happens when you get old.”

While Ducati’s Gigi Dall’Igna hopes Marc Marquez will be “100% fit” for the first time this season during this weekend’s Jerez round, Vinales is missing the Spanish event after undergoing surgery to remove the displaced screw.

Pramac rider Miller will be seeking his first points of the season at Jerez, on the new Yamaha V4.