U2 frontman Bono underwent five hours of surgery after being seriously injured in a cycle crash in New York. The band had originally reported that damage to his arm had forced them to cancel a US TV residency.

Now it’s been confirmed the singer suffered fractures to the eye orbit in his skull, his left shoulder blade and and his upper left arm.

Trauma surgeon Dean Lorich of New York’s Weill Cornell Medical Centre tells Rolling Stone:

“He was taken to the operating room where the elbow was washed out, a nerve trapped in the break was moved, and the bone was repaired with three metal plates and 18 screws.”

While he’s expected to make a full recovery, Lorich says he’ll need “intensive and progressive therapy.”

Bono, who recently explained why he always wears shaded glasses, last month apologised for the controversy caused when they launched latest album Songs Of Innocence via a free but non-optional iTunes download.