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A contributor to The Good Trade says a hamstring tear sustained at 56 brought her attention back to the present while she was recovering from depression. An MRI showed the injury, and she reports that surgery was successful; she describes ongoing physical recovery and using other forms of support while she cannot exercise as usual.
A woman writing for The Good Trade says a hamstring tear she sustained near her 56th birthday changed her attention and coping while she was recovering from a five-month depressive episode. An MRI later showed the tear, and she says surgery was successful, though recovery has limited her usual exercise and altered her daily routine.
The writer recounts that she was at Venice Beach in Los Angeles with her friend Peggy when she felt severe pain from her buttock down her right leg after trying to lift a foot buried in sand as a wave hit. She could not stand and crawled across the sand, calling for help. Bystanders and lifeguards helped her out of the water. The lifeguards examined her and said they did not find a break, suggesting the injury might be muscular, according to her account. She declined an ambulance ride to an emergency room and returned to her hotel with Peggy.
The next morning, she says, she could not drive home and arranged to travel the 160 miles by tow truck. An MRI several days later showed a hamstring tear from the sit bone. According to the writer, a doctor told her that without surgery she would lose 50% of the strength in her right leg for the rest of her life. She was referred to a sports medicine surgeon in Southern California and underwent surgery. She reports that it was successful and that she could walk slowly, with a limp, within a day, but only for short distances.
The injury happened while she was beginning to improve after a period of depression and anxiety, which she connects to major life changes, including leaving her teaching job and a breakup. She writes that the pain forced her attention into the immediate moment and that her usual depressive thought loops and anxiety eased. This is her personal account of her experience, not evidence that injury or pain is a treatment for depression.
Recovery Without Her Usual Exercise
The account describes how a sudden physical injury can disrupt both routine and mental-health coping. The writer says she usually walks, hikes or swims daily, but could not rely on those activities during recovery. For someone who lives alone and values independence, preparing for surgery also meant arranging practical support at home, including a shower chair, raised toilet seat and shower grab bar.
She says she has instead leaned on writing, art, reading, breath work, physical therapy, psychotherapy, time in nature, friends, meditation and music. Her experience underscores the individual nature of recovery: a change that she found helped bring her into the present also came with pain, mobility limits and the loss of a familiar coping tool. It should not be read as a general medical or mental-health recommendation.
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The Events Behind the Injury
The writer places the injury amid a period of upheaval. She says she had left what she describes as a toxic special-education teaching profession, gone through a breakup and experienced strained relationships. She describes feeling uncertain about her purpose and next steps, and says anxiety and depression have affected her since childhood.
She also recounts trying multiple forms of mental-health support over time, including antidepressant medication, EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapy, Gestalt therapy, somatic therapy, guided meditation and mindfulness classes. Earlier that year, she began conscious connective breathwork and Spravato, a prescription esketamine nasal spray administered under medical supervision. She says she started Spravato in June and believes it helped her cope. That assessment is her own; the article does not establish a clinical effect or explain how the treatment related to the injury.
“I couldn’t stand and began crawling across the sand, screaming for help.”
— The writer, recounting the moment at Venice Beach
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Details the Account Leaves Open
The source does not provide the writer’s name in the supplied material, the date of publication, the exact date of surgery or the current stage and expected length of her recovery. It also does not identify the surgeon or provide medical records, so the diagnosis, prognosis and outcome are reported through the writer’s account rather than independently verified here.
The doctor’s reported estimate of a 50% loss of leg strength without surgery is not accompanied by further clinical detail. The essay also does not provide enough information to evaluate the separate effects of surgery, injury, psychotherapy or Spravato on her mental health. Her description of feeling more present is a personal observation, not a claim that physical pain treats depression.
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Rebuilding Daily Routines
The writer says recovery is going better than she anticipated, but that she remains unable to use exercise as she did before. She describes continuing with physical therapy and other forms of support while she heals physically and mentally. The source does not give a date for returning to walking, hiking or swimming, or report a later medical update.
For now, the next stage described is adapting everyday life around limited mobility and relying on other coping practices. Any further prognosis or change in her mental-health treatment is not reported in the account.
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Key Questions
What injury did the writer sustain?
She says an MRI showed she had torn her hamstring from the sit bone after a painful incident at Venice Beach.
Did she have surgery?
Yes. She reports that the surgery was successful and that she could walk slowly with a limp within a day, although only for short distances.
How did she say the injury affected her mental health?
She writes that the pain focused her attention on the present and that depressive thought loops and anxiety eased. This is her personal account, not evidence that injury is a treatment for depression.
What has she used during recovery?
She lists writing, art, reading, breath work, physical therapy, psychotherapy, time in nature, friends, meditation and music. She says she could not use her usual exercise routine during recovery.
What is known about her recovery timeline?
The essay says she was walking short distances soon after surgery and that recovery was going better than she expected. It does not provide a full recovery timeline or a date for returning to her usual activities.
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