Julius Randle has only played 82 games once in his 11-year career. On its surface, that statistic suggests that Randle is an injury-prone player. However, that isn’t the whole truth. After Randle’s rookie season, in which he only played 14 minutes before breaking his right leg, he played 70-plus games in seven of the following eight seasons.
However, it appears Randle is playing through something every season. He had plantar fasciitis in 2018, ankle injuries in 2019, and quad injuries in 2020. He also had ankle injuries again in 2022 and 2023 and a dislocated right shoulder, which caused him to miss significant time with the New York Knicks last season.
That leads us to his current injury with the Wolves, a right adductor strain in his groin. Randle has typically battled through injuries, so why can’t he play through this one?
The phrase” right adductor strain” is somewhat ambiguous. It refers to a series of potential muscles in the inner thigh that help to move one’s leg. There’s the adductor longus, brevis, magnus, minimus, pectineus, and gracilis. The adductor muscles all link from different areas of the pelvis to various regions of the femur. Some help with balance, and some help with twisting. Some lift the leg, and others help with bending the knee.
Without knowing what adductor muscle Randle strained, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what he is going through. However, with adductor muscles, there are a lot of commonalities in their signs and symptoms, treatments, and recovery.
First, an adductor strain usually occurs when a person twists and the lower leg gets “caught” in the ground. Think of planting a soccer cleat stud in the ground and trying to twist quickly at the hips. The hips move, but the foot stays planted.
The strain is a medical term for a muscle or tendon tear. Grade 1 is minor, Grade 2 is significant, and Grade 3 is a complete tear of the bands of muscle or tendon. Most adductor tears occur near the pelvis, where the muscle anchors to the bone. It’s the most common groin-related injury among athletes.
Regardless of what adductor, the injury is excruciating. The pain is the only initial sign. However, it’s severe, intense pain that’s sometimes accompanied by a pop, depending on the severity of the tear. After the initial pain, swelling occurs as the body pumps more blood to the injured area to start the repair process, coincidentally increasing the pain because the swelling presses against the injured area.
Diagnosis is ambiguous as it is straightforward.
With an adductor injury, one’s range of motion remains intact because of the vast number of muscles and the body’s ability to compensate. There might be bruising to the inner thigh, but there might not. Swelling may be present and obvious. However, depending on someone’s fitness, there might be no swelling if the injury is deep enough. An orthopedic MD might be able to press in the groin and feel the tear, or they may feel nothing.
The only sign of a tear is pain that gets more intense with movement. Because the pain suggests a tear, doctors must perform body scans to confirm the injury. However, because the injury is muscular, X-rays will show nothing. Therefore, an MRI is the only true diagnostic method.
Therein lies the straightforward nature of the diagnosis.
Treatment is relatively frustrating. Surgery is rarely an option because most adductor strains do not completely tear through the muscle. That means the best treatment is to hurry up and wait for the injury to heal.
That includes icing the area to help with pain and taking anti-inflammatory medications to help with swelling and pain. Doctors might recommend crutches to keep weight off the affected limb, but they may also recommend moving slowly and trying not to twist or re-aggravate the injury. Sometimes, a corticosteroid injection may jump-start the healing process, but not always.
In most cases, pain starts to improve after a couple of weeks. Physical therapy resolves Most Grade 1 and 2 strains within a month. However, given that not all bodies heal the same way, it can take multiple months before the muscle completely heals and is no longer at risk for re-injury.
The Timberwolves will reevaluate Randle this week, which could mean the four-time All-Star could return to the lineup soon after the All-Star Break. However, it is essential to remember that the risk of re-injury is a serious risk with any muscle, and the surging Wolves likely will want to make sure Randle is fully healthy for a playoff push.
