Now that’s a broken Bono! U2 star reveals X-ray of shattered elbow

AN X-RAY has revealed for the first time the full extent of the injury to Bono’s arm in a bicycle accident – and how it has been pieced back together by metal implants.

The 54-year-old U2 singer suffered multiple injuries including a fractured eye socket and shoulder blade as well as a severe fracture to his left elbow after the high-speed crash in New York’s Central Park last November.

Bono posted the X-ray of his shattered elbow on his blog, saying: ‘The recovery has been more difficult than I thought. As I write this it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again.’ But last night one of America’s leading elbow specialists, Dr Robert Klapper, said: ‘Playing the guitar is absolutely the best physical therapy for this

SLOW RECOVERY: Bono type of injury.’ However the doctor – whose patients have included Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman – added: ‘This is certainly one of the most devastating and complex elbow injuries I’ve ever seen.’

Dr Klapper believes the X-ray was taken during surgery as it shows a tie from an operating room sheet in the top right-hand corner.

And he compared the operation to ‘piecing together a jigsaw’, saying it would have taken five hours to knit the mangled elbow together using three titanium plates and 18 screws.

But he added: ‘I expect Bono to play the guitar and continue to be the great musician we all know and love.’