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The Good Trade published a first-person account by a woman who tore her hamstring at 56 while at Venice Beach and later underwent surgery. She says the pain redirected her attention from anxiety and depression to immediate needs, while recovery limited her usual exercise and led her to rely on other forms of support.
The Good Trade published a first-person account by a woman who says a hamstring tear at age 56 brought her attention back to the present while she was recovering from depression and anxiety. The writer describes being injured at Venice Beach, later having surgery, and adapting to a recovery that kept her from her usual exercise routine.
The writer says she was visiting Venice Beach in Los Angeles with her friend Peggy to celebrate her 56th birthday. After a wave hit as she tried to lift a foot buried in sand, she felt intense pain from her buttock down her right leg and could not stand. Bystanders helped her out of the water, and lifeguards examined her. They told her there was no apparent break and suggested the injury might be muscular, according to her account.
She declined the lifeguards’ offer to have paramedics take her to an emergency room. The next day, unable to drive, she arranged transport home. An MRI several days later showed a hamstring tear from the sit bone, she writes. A doctor warned that without surgery she would lose 50% of strength in her right leg for the rest of her life. She was referred to a sports medicine surgeon and says the operation was successful.
The writer describes the injury as occurring during recovery from a five-month clinical depressive episode. She says the immediate physical pain interrupted depressive thought loops and anxiety by focusing her on what was happening in the moment. After surgery, she could walk short distances slowly and with a limp within a day, but recovery changed her daily routines and prevented her from walking, hiking or swimming as usual.
Recovery Beyond the Physical Injury
The account is a personal narrative, not a clinical study, and it does not establish that physical injury treats depression. Its significance lies in describing how a sudden medical event affected one person’s attention and daily coping, while also creating new physical and emotional challenges.
Her experience also shows how injury can disrupt routines people rely on for well-being. The writer identifies exercise as a main coping tool and says she could not use it during recovery. She describes drawing on writing, art, reading, breath work, physical therapy, psychotherapy, time outdoors, friends, meditation and music instead. Her account may help readers understand that recovery can involve practical changes and mental-health support alongside medical treatment.
From Beach Injury to Surgery
The injury came amid major upheavals the writer says had affected her mental health: leaving a teaching job she describes as toxic, a breakup and strained relationships. She writes that these changes left her questioning her purpose and sense of security, against a history of anxiety and depression dating to childhood.
Before the injury, she says she had tried several forms of mental-health care, including antidepressant medication, EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapy, Gestalt therapy, somatic therapy and guided meditation. She also began conscious connective breathwork and Spravato that year. She describes Spravato as esketamine nasal spray administered in a clinic with medical supervision, followed by a two-hour period of rest. She says she began the treatment in June and believed it helped her cope; the account does not provide clinical evidence about its effect on her injury or recovery.
Preparing for surgery required practical planning. The writer says she lives alone and wanted to remain as independent as possible, so she arranged a shower chair, a raised toilet seat and a shower grab bar. She also needed appointments, medical clearance, a chest X-ray and lab work before the operation.
“I was lying in the sand with large waves enveloping me. I couldn’t stand and began crawling across the sand, screaming for help.”
— The writer, recounting the beach injury
Details the Account Does Not Give
The article does not specify the date of the injury, the date of surgery or how long the writer’s rehabilitation lasted. It also does not report the tear’s full medical findings, the surgical procedure, or her eventual strength and mobility. The 50% strength loss is presented as a doctor’s warning about what might happen without surgery, not as an outcome that was measured.
The writer’s description of feeling more present is her own account of the experience. The source does not establish a causal link between injury and improvement in depression, or provide details that would allow readers to assess the effects of her mental-health treatments. Her account also ends mid-thought while discussing Spravato, leaving her fuller view of that treatment’s role unclear.
Rehabilitation and Daily Adjustments
The writer says she is continuing physical therapy and using non-exercise activities to support her mental health while her hamstring heals. She does not give a timeline for returning to walking, hiking or swimming, or describe later medical assessments. The next reported milestone is therefore her ongoing rehabilitation and whether her mobility and strength improve.
She also describes relying on close friends, psychotherapy, creative work, meditation, breath work and time in nature during recovery. The source offers no later update on her surgical outcome or mental health, so those developments remain unknown.
Key Questions
What injury did the writer sustain?
She says an MRI several days after the Venice Beach incident showed a hamstring tear from the sit bone in her right leg.
Did she have surgery?
Yes. She says she underwent surgery and that it was successful. The account does not identify the procedure or give a date.
What did she mean by being snapped back into the present?
She says the intense physical pain shifted her focus away from depressive thought loops and anxiety toward the immediate experience and the tasks required after the injury. This is her personal description, not a medical finding.
How did the injury affect her recovery routine?
She says she could not use walking, hiking or swimming—activities she normally relied on to regulate her nervous system. She describes turning to writing, art, reading, therapy, physical therapy, friends, meditation, music and breath work.
Does the account show that injury or Spravato treats depression?
No. It reports the writer’s experience and beliefs, but does not establish that an injury or a specific treatment caused a mental-health improvement or works for others.
Source: rss
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