‘You just become hypercautious’: Caitlin Clark faces ‘mental hurdle’ after injury

Jun 17, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) and head coach Stephanie White in the first half against the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark missed all but 13 games last season as a result of an injury. Now, she’s back and healthy, but she faces a new struggle that isn’t as much physical as it is mental.

Clark has performed well playing heavy minutes in each of her first two games of the season, averaging 22 points and eight assists per contest. While she’s been on the court and remained dominant, she’s also been careful. During the team’s season-opening loss to the Dallas Wings on Saturday, she went to the tunnel twice to get her back adjusted.

The Fever superstar said after the game that her back “gets out of line pretty quickly” and that her trips off the bench were to “get my back put back in place a little bit.”

She admitted that it’s a bit of a “mental hurdle” to be on the court and trust her body to perform without suffering another injury. When it all works out, however, it leads to even more confidence.

“That moment where my back tightened up, I think I almost got confidence from that because I came back in and I played eight more minutes, so I felt great,” Clark said Wednesday. “It’s something I can take confidence from. But it’s going to take me a little bit to really get over the mental hurdle of trusting my body.”

Clark said that the hardest part of an injury isn’t necessarily just the rehab, it’s the mental struggle of getting back in the fold and worrying about the possibility of another injury. However, there has been one positive to take away from her recovery this time around: she is much more in tune with her body.