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In a personal essay published by The Good Trade, a woman describes tearing her hamstring at age 56 and undergoing surgery after an MRI showed the injury. She says the pain focused her attention on the present while she was recovering from a depressive episode, though her rehabilitation has limited exercise, a key part of her usual coping routine.
A woman writing for The Good Trade says a hamstring tear sustained on a Los Angeles beach at age 56 led to surgery and a difficult recovery that changed her daily routine. She describes the injury as bringing her attention into the present while she was recovering from a five-month depressive episode; that is her personal account, not evidence that injury or pain treats depression.
The injury happened while the writer was at Venice Beach with her friend Peggy, visiting for the writer’s 56th birthday. As she tried to lift a foot buried in sand, she felt a sharp pain run from her buttock down her right leg and was knocked down by a wave. She says 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, checked her blood pressure and said they found no break, suggesting the problem might be muscular. They offered to have paramedics take her to an emergency room, but she declined. The next morning she could not drive home, so she arranged for a tow truck and rode with the driver. An MRI a few days later showed, according to her account, that she had torn her hamstring from the sit bone. A doctor told her that without surgery she could lose 50% of the strength in her right leg long term. She was referred to a sports medicine surgeon in Southern California.
She says the surgery was successful and that she could walk short distances, slowly and with a limp, within a day. Recovery has nevertheless prevented her from walking, hiking and swimming as she usually does. She has turned to writing, art, reading, breath work, physical therapy, psychotherapy, meditation, music, nature and support from friends while healing.
Recovery Changed Her Coping Routine
The account describes how a serious physical injury can disrupt the routines a person relies on while managing mental health. For the writer, daily movement was a main coping tool, and surgery and rehabilitation temporarily made those activities unavailable. She says the injury’s immediate demands—including medical appointments and preparing her home—also focused her on practical tasks and the present moment.
Her experience is individual. The essay does not establish that pain improves depression, and the writer does not present the injury as a substitute for mental health care. Rather, it records the tension between physical rehabilitation and maintaining emotional wellbeing when familiar activities are restricted. She says she continues to use psychotherapy and other supports alongside physical therapy.
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A Birthday Trip and Sudden Injury
Before the injury, the writer says she was beginning to improve after a five-month period of clinical depression. She connects that distress to major changes earlier in the year: leaving a special education teaching job she describes as toxic, a breakup and strained relationships. She writes that these upheavals left her questioning her purpose and sense of security, while noting that she has dealt with anxiety and depression since childhood.
She recounts trying several forms of mental health support over time, including antidepressant medication, EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapy, Gestalt therapy, somatic therapy, mindfulness classes and guided meditation. She also says she began conscious connective breathwork and Spravato, a prescription esketamine nasal spray administered under medical supervision. The account describes her treatment experience but does not provide clinical records or establish how much any one intervention contributed to her recovery.
After the tear, she faced the practical demands of surgery while living alone and seeking to remain independent. She ordered a shower chair and raised toilet seat and had a grab bar installed. Her story places those preparations alongside the emotional adjustment of losing access to exercise during rehabilitation.
“The physical pain of my hamstring injury suddenly snapped me into the present moment.”
— The writer, in The Good Trade
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Medical Details Not Independently Reported
The essay does not identify the writer by name in the supplied material, give the dates of the injury or operation, or provide the MRI report, surgical details or a clinician’s independent account. The reported 50% long-term strength loss was a doctor’s warning as relayed by the writer; the article does not include the doctor’s name or explain the basis for that estimate.
Her description of the injury shifting her attention and easing depressive thought loops is personal testimony. The source does not establish a clinical relationship between the hamstring tear and a change in depression, nor does it report a measured mental health outcome. The length of rehabilitation and the extent of her eventual physical recovery are also not specified.
post-surgery leg compression sleeve
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Rehabilitation and Ongoing Support
The writer says she is continuing physical therapy and using non-exercise practices and support from friends while she recovers. Her account does not provide a timetable for returning to walking, hiking or swimming, or a date for a later update. The next reported milestones are therefore the course of rehabilitation and whether she can gradually resume the activities that previously helped regulate her wellbeing.
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Key Questions
What injury did the writer sustain?
She says an MRI taken a few days after the beach incident showed a hamstring tear from the sit bone on her right side.
Did she have surgery?
Yes. She reports that the surgery was successful and that she could walk short distances slowly, with a limp, within a day. The essay does not give the operation date or detailed surgical information.
What did she mean by being brought into the present?
She says the injury’s pain and the practical demands of treatment interrupted depressive thought loops and focused her attention on what was happening immediately. This is her description of her own experience, not a general medical finding.
How did recovery affect her usual mental health routine?
She says she usually walks, hikes or swims daily, but could not use those activities during early recovery. She describes relying instead on writing, art, reading, breath work, therapy, meditation, music, nature and friends.
What remains unknown about her recovery?
The account does not say how long rehabilitation will take, when she may return to regular exercise, or what her long-term strength and mobility will be.
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