TL;DR
Get the little things that make your day delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
In a personal essay for The Good Trade, a woman describes tearing her hamstring at Venice Beach shortly after turning 56 and later learning through an MRI that the injury required surgery. She says the pain brought her attention into the present as she recovered from depression, while her recovery also disrupted exercise routines she relied on for support.
A woman writing for The Good Trade says a hamstring tear she suffered at Venice Beach during her 56th-birthday trip brought her attention back to the present as she was recovering from a depressive episode. An MRI later showed the tendon had torn from her sit bone, and she underwent surgery after a doctor warned that avoiding it could leave her with 50% less strength in her right leg, according to her account.
The writer says she was at the beach with her friend Peggy after visiting an art exhibit when she felt sharp pain running from her buttock down her right leg. A wave hit as she tried to lift a foot buried in sand. Unable to stand, she crawled and called for help. Bystanders helped her out of the water, and lifeguards examined her, checked her blood pressure and asked about medications. They found no apparent break and suggested the problem might be muscular, she wrote.
She declined the lifeguards’ offer to call paramedics and did not go to an emergency room that night. Peggy drove her back to their hotel. The next morning, she says, she could not drive, so she hired a tow truck and rode home, a distance of about 160 miles. A few days later, an MRI identified the hamstring tear. The writer says she was referred to a sports medicine surgeon in Southern California and had to arrange appointments, medical clearance and practical support for the period after surgery.
Because she lives alone and wanted to maintain as much independence as possible, she prepared her home with a shower chair, a raised toilet seat and a shower grab bar. She reports that the surgery was successful and that she could walk short distances, slowly and with a limp, within a day. Her recovery has gone better than she expected, but she has not been able to return to her usual routine of walking, hiking and swimming.
An Injury Reshaped Her Coping Routine
The account describes how an acute physical injury affected a person already managing depression and anxiety, while also removing exercise—one of her main ways to regulate stress—from her daily routine. It offers a specific first-person view of recovery that includes both medical logistics and the emotional effects of losing familiar activities.
The writer says the pain forced her focus onto what was happening immediately, interrupting depressive thought loops and anxiety. That is her account of her own experience, not evidence that physical pain treats depression or that injury has the same effect for other people. Her recovery has involved adapting her home, relying on friends and using other supports while she cannot exercise as usual.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Depression and Life Changes Before the Tear
The writer places the injury within a year marked by major personal changes. She says she left a special education teaching job she describes as toxic, went through a breakup and experienced strained relationships. She describes feeling uncertain about her purpose and next steps, and says she had dealt with anxiety and depression since childhood.
Before the injury, she had participated in several mental health interventions, including antidepressant medication, EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapy, Gestalt therapy, somatic therapy and guided meditation and mindfulness classes. She also says she began conscious connective breathwork and Spravato treatment that year. In her description, Spravato is administered as a nasal spray in a medical clinic, with patients resting under supervision afterward. She reports setting an intention and journaling before and after sessions. These details reflect her personal treatment history; the account does not establish how any one intervention affected her condition.
After the injury, she says she turned to writing, art, reading, breath work, physical therapy, psychotherapy, time in nature, friends, meditation and music while recovering. She interprets the recovery period as a reason to slow down and attend to both physical and mental health. That meaning is her personal reflection, rather than a medical conclusion about the cause or purpose of the injury.
“The physical pain of my hamstring injury suddenly snapped me into the present moment.”
— The writer, in The Good Trade
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Medical Details Not Independently Verified
The source is a first-person account, and no medical records, treating clinicians or independent sources are cited. The published material does not provide the date of the injury or surgery, the precise procedure performed, the length of the expected rehabilitation, or the writer’s current condition. It also does not give details that would allow readers to assess the injury or treatment beyond her description.
The writer says a doctor warned that without surgery she would have 50% less strength in her right leg, but the account does not identify the doctor or provide an independent clinical explanation of that estimate. Her description of feeling more present after the injury is personal and does not establish a general mental-health effect. The source material also ends while discussing Spravato, so it does not clarify the writer’s later experience with that treatment.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Recovery Continues Alongside Therapy
The writer describes physical therapy and non-exercise coping practices as part of her recovery, alongside psychotherapy and support from friends. She has not provided a timetable for returning to walking, hiking or swimming, and the source does not report a later follow-up on her leg strength or mobility.
Her account leaves the next milestone tied to recovery rather than a scheduled public event: whether she can gradually resume her usual activities and how her mental health changes as rehabilitation progresses. No additional update or independent medical assessment is included in the material provided.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What injury did the writer sustain?
She says an MRI showed that she had torn her hamstring from her sit bone after experiencing sharp pain in her right leg at Venice Beach.
Did she have surgery?
Yes. The writer reports that she underwent surgery and could walk short distances, slowly and with a limp, within a day. The account does not specify the procedure or give a recovery timetable.
What did she mean by saying the injury brought her into the present?
She says the intense physical pain shifted her focus away from depressive thought loops and anxiety. This is her personal description, not a claim that pain is a treatment for depression.
How did the injury change her daily routine?
She says she could no longer rely on walking, hiking and swimming, which she usually did regularly. She turned instead to activities and supports including writing, art, reading, therapy, meditation, music and time in nature.
What is not known about her recovery?
The account gives no publication date, current medical update, expected rehabilitation length or timeline for returning to exercise. It also does not include independent confirmation of the medical details she reports.
Source: rss
Halloween Picks
halloween
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
