Caitlin Clark's 4 different muscle injuries better than aggravating same injury, per doctor

Indianapolis Star

4 days ago

Caitlin Clark spent much of the WNBA off-season in the weight room, getting stronger, building muscle, revealing biceps that went viral in a photo, to come out with an edge in her second year with the Indiana Fever.
And research shows very clearly, said Dr. Jason Koh, that "getting stronger is associated with decreased risk of muscle strains," especially at elite-level sports.
Yet, Clark is out with injury again, this time a right groin injury that will cause her to miss the WNBA All-Star competition this weekend. She suffered her fourth muscle injury of the season in the final seconds of the Fever's win over Connecticut on Tuesday.
"I'm incredibly sad and disappointed to say I can't participate in the 3-point contest or the All-Star game," Clark posted to X Thursday. "I have to rest my body."
And that is a smart decision, said Koh, a sports medicine doctor who is chair of orthopedic surgery at Endeavor Health in suburban Chicago, the chief medical officer for the Chicago Fire soccer team and previously was a team physician for the Chicago Cubs.
"If she hasn't recovered enough (and she played), she could potentially get injured again. If something is partially healed or there's some scar tissue, it can get aggravated again, and that might slow down her ability to play later in the season," he said. "Or it might delay her return to the team for games that could get them into the playoffs."
IndyStar talked in detail with Koh about Clark's latest injury, what it is and what it means in light of her three other injuries this season -- Clark's left quad tightness that kept her out of the preseason opener, a quad strain in May that led to missing five games and a left groin injury that kept her out another five. Koh has not treated or seen Clark as a patient.
Clark's latest groin injury is her fourth separate muscle injury of the season.
"And typically when we think about a groin injury, we think about the muscles and tendons that help move the leg. There are muscles called the adductors, and a groin strain is involving the muscles on the inside part of your thigh that help you bring your leg across your body," said Koh. "So crossing over or cutting from side to side or suddenly having to cut one way but your muscles are still contracting a different way, that's what happens."
It's an injury Koh sees a lot in professional soccer players who are running at fast speeds, then they cut or pivot.
Koh, who has been following Clark since her Iowa days (his brother-in-law is a professor of surgery at the University of Iowa), said he saw the pain in her face Tuesday.
"My sense is she looked pretty uncomfortable and I know she's really tough," he said. "So this must have been something that really bothered her to take her out."
There are different levels of strains of the muscles, said Koh, "and I think we've probably, all of us may have had strained your calf or your hamstring at some point, and sometimes it gets better in just a few minutes. And then sometimes, it might take a few days."
For professional athletes, their injuries typically happen under much greater force, he said. "And so if it's a bad enough strain, it can take several weeks to recover."
Clark's left groin injury, which the Fever said was revealed when she reported pain after the team's West Coast road trip, led to an MRI. Clark then missed four more regular-season games, as well as the Commissioner's Cup championship, and came back July 9. Six days later, Clark suffered a right groin injury.
MRIs are used in groin injuries to show the amount of tissue damage, which can occur in several different areas, said Koh.
"Sometimes, it's where the tendon attaches to the bone and sometimes it's in the muscle and then sometimes it's where the tendon attaches to the muscle," he said. "And fortunately, almost all of these can be treated without surgery and will heal, but it can take some time to heal."
IndyStar asked Koh, from a medical standpoint, if it is better that Clark has had four separate injuries versus continuing to injure the same muscle.
"To me, it's a good sign that she hasn't re-injured the other things, which tells us that she can heal pretty well. So to that extent, I think that if she's going to get injured, it's probably better to get an injury in a different part rather than keep re-injuring the same thing because sometimes that indicates it's having a hard time healing," he said.
"And she was able to heal those other injuries, so I think that's a good sign."
If Clark doesn't need surgery for her latest injury, which Koh said would only be required in an extreme case, she likely wouldn't be out for the season.
"The tissue takes some time to heal. We've all seen this when you get a cut, there's a clot that forms, and then it forms scar tissue, and then it becomes finally more soft and more normal again," he said. "That's what's happening inside the body with how it's healing. And then, over time, it gets remodeled and changes from that scar into something that comes back to like normal muscle."
The key is to rest the patient so that the tissue has a chance to heal "and get things to stick together," Koh said.
"And then gradually start decreasing the motion and then eventually some strengthening to sort of retrain the tissue to heal in the right way so that she gets her strength back," he said. "And meanwhile I'm sure that she's doing a bunch of other activities to keep herself in good shape."
While Clark said she won't be competing in All-Star weekend, "I will still be at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for all the action, and I'm looking forward to helping Sandy (Brondello) coach our team to a win."