Mandy Oaklander | October 16, 2026

Jalen Hurts, quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, was recently diagnosed with a superficial blood clot after a calf injury. The clot is sidelining him from games while his medical team plans next steps.

In her new piece for TIME, Angela Haupt asked experts what we should all know about superficial blood clots and when they warrant emergency care. Later in this edition, she also shares one doctor’s quick vein-anatomy lesson that stuck with her.

TODAY’S TOPICS

The Army’s low-T question
Paddle, drift, repeat
Your vascular road map
The new menopause playbook

TODAY I LEARNED

One-quarter of men in the U.S. Army may have low testosterone levels

Saul Loeb/AFP—Getty Images

The Trump Administration is implementing a mandatory testosterone test for service members age 30 and older. Researchers wanted to estimate what share of them might have low testosterone before those tests were rolled out, so they analyzed data from a survey conducted at five U.S. Army installations from 2024 to 2026.

The results, published yesterday in JAMA, found that more than 100,000 active-duty U.S. Army personnel—roughly 25% of their sample—had testosterone concentration less than 300 ng/dL, which is the level the American Urological Association recommends as a cutoff for low testosterone. —Alana Semuels, Senior Correspondent

HOW WE RELAX

Paddling into fall

My kayaking dad. Courtesy of Angela Haupt

Kayaking is one of my favorite activities—and not just in the summer. I’m lucky to live close to several access points along the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania, and when the leaves turn, my dad and I take to the water.

Drifting down the river and admiring the reds, oranges, and yellows reflected on its surface is incredibly soothing.—Angela Haupt, Editor, Health & Wellness

QUICK CHAT

Your body's highways

I interviewed vascular surgeon Dr. William Shutze for my new story about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts’ superficial blood clot and got a vivid anatomy lesson. Shutze told me to imagine the veins in my legs as a network of highways, smaller roads, and connecting routes. Suddenly, the circulatory system started making a lot more sense. —A.H.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY—Getty Images

You told me to picture the veins in my legs as a highway system. What do you mean?

Think of a well-developed road and highway system where everything is interconnected. That's how our veins work. We have deep veins, superficial veins, and connecting veins that allow blood to move through different pathways.

Which veins are the major highways?

The deep veins run within the muscles of your arms and legs. They're the most important veins because they do about 90% of the work of returning blood from your limbs to your heart. The superficial veins are just under the skin and handle the other 10%.

So how are the two systems connected?

We have veins called perforating veins that bridge the deep and superficial systems. They provide different routes for blood to travel, just like roads connecting to highways.

What happens if there's a blockage?

Imagine a car wreck on the highway. Traffic can reroute onto smaller roads, move around the blockage, and eventually get back onto the main highway. Something similar can happen in the body. If blood can't travel through one route, it may be able to move through other pathways.

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