TOP performing Cardiff City goalkeeper David Marshall was named by BBC Television’s soccer pundit Alan Hansen as the best Premiership goalkeeper of the last season.But without Nuffield Health Hospitals Cardiff & Vale, it could have been a very different story.

Just three years ago it looked as though his career with Cardiff City was to end prematurely, after he was injured in a game against Stoke City. During the match David ruptured a ligament in the inner part of his right elbow. Not only did this refuse to heal but left him with a painful, unstable elbow threatening to end his football career.

After months of trying different therapies, he agreed to undergo pioneering surgery at the Vale Hospital. Orthopaedic surgeons Chris Wilson and Geoff Graham removed a hamstring tendon from behind David’s upper leg and used it to create a new ligament in his elbow. The technique was developed in the USA, but David was the first sportsman in the UK to benefit. Within months he was able to return to training and his position in goal.

David, 29, had the surgery at.the Vale hospital in February of 2011 and has not missed a day’s training since.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeons Chris Wilson and Geoff Graham David Marshall, centre, with Nuffield orthopaedic surgeons Chris Wilson and Geoff Graham  performed the intricate surgery, for the first time. Mr Wilson says: “The procedure was unusual and very challenging. The injury David had is rare because usually a ligament heals itself. To create a new elbow ligament, we had to make a small incision just below his knee and harvest a single hamstring tendon from the back of his thigh.

Mr Wilson adds: “After harvesting the tendon, we opened the inner part of David’s elbow and identified the site of the ruptured ligament. Very small tunnels were drilled into the bones on either side of the elbow joint and the new ligament was threaded through these. Before we stitched it into place, the new ligament had to be tensioned in a way that would stabilise the elbow joint but still allow the elbow to move.” The surgery took two hours and David remained in hospital overnight.

Within a week he was able to move his elbow and four weeks later was doing muscle-building exercises. Four months afterwards he was able to resume his normal training. “Having that op,” David says, “was the best decision I’ve ever made and I feel very privileged to have been able to undergo such a very new procedure – the first in the UK. It is thanks to the pioneering surgeons at Nuffield Health’s Vale Hospital that I’m able to continue playing professional football.” The procedure costs around £3,500 privately.