What to Know About the Blood Clot Sidelining Jalen Hurts

Getting up for a walk, of course, is different from getting tackled. Shutze worries about athletes taking another hit where they already have a clot. Blood thinners add another concern: An injury that causes bleeding can become much more dangerous when blood doesn’t clot as readily.

In football, “you have constant significant contact,” Moll says, which raises the risk of serious bleeding, including inside the head or muscles.

Athletes are used to being sore. “They often minimize clinical symptoms, completely understandably, because they don’t want to be taken off the roster,” Moll says.

Pay attention when discomfort feels different, persists, or worsens. Pain, swelling, discoloration, and warmth can signal a clot. Mitina says patients sometimes describe tightness in the leg; redness around a superficial clot can resemble an infection.

If you think you might have a superficial clot, “don’t ignore it,” Shutze says. Have a doctor check it out rather than assuming it’s a bruise or muscle strain.