Injury Analyst Conveys How Caitlin Clark Must 'Control' Quad Injury

On May 26, news broke that Indiana Fever superstar suffered a left quad strain, which will keep her sidelined for at least the next two weeks and potentially longer, depending on how her leg heals.

While any injury is obviously not ideal (especially when it happens to the sport's biggest star), strains to a leg muscle can be particularly tricky to recover from. Since muscles like the quads and hamstrings are used to walk and do other basic daily activities, the risk of setbacks is higher than one would like.

This is why it will be crucial for Clark to handle her quad with care in the coming weeks. And during a May 27 appearance on CBS Sports HQ, injury analyst Marty Jaramillo (who, "was a Sports Medicine staff member for St. John's University and the New York Knicks and has more than 30 years as an athletic trainer and sports orthopedic physical therapist", according to CBS) spoke about how Clark must deal with her quad strain.

"We have to control the swelling around the tear," Jaramillo said. "The quad tear is usually small, but the muscle around the tear tightens up, which creates a much larger injury field, or size of the field."

To be clear, Jaramillo is referring to Clark's injury as a "tear" because a tear and strain are technically the same thing when it comes to phrasing injuries.

"Basically, it's complete rest and various modalities to control that inflammation," Jaramillo continued. "Which includes ultrasound, shock wave therapy, electrical stimulation, lots of compression devices, lots of contrast (cold, hot tubs), lots of things to control that inflammation.

"This is really a standard, shut it down, rest, ice, compression, elevation, modalities, controlled movement. And she will do quite well," he added. "But if you do rush it, you can accelerate bleeding and have a much longer-term, in terms of being out."