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The Good Trade published a personal essay by a woman describing a hamstring tear she sustained at Venice Beach around her 56th birthday, followed by surgery and a changed recovery routine. She says the injury brought her attention into the present while she was recovering from depression, but her account does not establish that injury or pain is a treatment for depression.
The Good Trade published a first-person account by a woman who tore her right hamstring near her 56th birthday and later had surgery, describing how the injury redirected her attention during recovery from a five-month depressive episode. Her account links the experience to changes in her daily routines and coping strategies; it is a personal reflection, not evidence that physical injury treats depression.
The woman said she was at Venice Beach in Los Angeles with her friend Peggy when a sudden pain ran from her buttock down her right leg as she tried to lift a foot buried in sand. Waves were washing over her, and she said she could not stand. Bystanders helped her from the water, and lifeguards examined her. They told her they did not find a break and thought the injury might be muscular, according to her account. She declined their offer to have paramedics take her to an emergency room.
She said she could not walk and that pain returned when she moved between sitting and standing. The next morning, unable to drive, she arranged a ride home. An MRI several days later showed a hamstring tear from the sit bone, she wrote. Her doctor told her she could lose 50% of her right-leg strength permanently without surgery. The essay says she was referred to a sports medicine surgeon and that the operation was successful; it does not name the surgeon or give the date of the procedure.
After surgery, she was able to walk short distances slowly, with a limp, within a day, according to the essay. Recovery limited her ability to use exercise — including walking, hiking and swimming — as a regular way to manage stress. She described turning instead to physical therapy, psychotherapy, writing, art, meditation, breath work, music and friends. She also said she was living alone and prepared her home with a shower chair, a raised toilet seat and a grab bar.
Recovery Changed Her Coping Routine
The account describes how a serious injury can disrupt the routines someone relies on while they are already dealing with mental-health difficulties. For the author, exercise was a main coping tool; losing access to it during recovery meant finding other ways to manage distress while attending to surgery and daily needs. She said the physical pain brought her attention into the present and that depressive thought loops and anxiety eased at that time.
That experience should be understood as her interpretation of her own recovery, not a general medical conclusion. The essay offers a personal view of living with depression alongside a physical injury, including practical adjustments for someone recovering alone. It does not show that pain, injury or surgery can resolve depression, or that another person would have the same response.
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Depression Before the Beach Injury
The author said the injury happened as she was coming out of a five-month clinical depressive episode. She connected her mental-health decline to upheavals earlier that year, including leaving a special education teaching job she described as toxic, a breakup and strained relationships. She wrote that the changes left her questioning her purpose and sense of security.
She also described a longer history of anxiety and depression and listed past approaches including antidepressant medication, EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapy, Gestalt therapy, somatic therapy, guided meditation and mindfulness classes. In June, she began conscious connective breathwork and Spravato, a prescription esketamine nasal spray administered in a clinic under medical supervision. She said she journaled before and after sessions and believed the treatment helped her cope. These are her reported experiences; the essay does not provide clinical records or an independent assessment of treatment effects.
“The physical pain of my hamstring injury suddenly snapped me into the present moment.”
— The author, in The Good Trade essay
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Medical Details the Essay Leaves Open
The essay does not state the tear’s clinical severity, provide the MRI report, name the surgeon, give the surgery date or describe a full rehabilitation timeline. It reports the doctor’s warning of a possible 50% loss of right-leg strength without surgery, but does not provide additional medical documentation or the basis for that estimate.
The author’s account also does not say how long her recovery will take or whether she has regained her usual mobility. Her statements about feeling more present and coping with depression are subjective. The source does not establish a causal mental-health benefit from the injury or from any specific treatment she describes.
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Rehabilitation and Daily Adjustments
In the essay, the author describes continuing physical therapy and psychotherapy while adapting to limits on exercise. She says she is drawing on creative activities, time outdoors, meditation, breath work and support from close friends as she works on her physical and mental health. The source gives no schedule for follow-up appointments or date for a return to walking, hiking or swimming.
Her account leaves the next medical milestones — including the length of rehabilitation and the recovery of strength — unresolved. It presents recovery as ongoing rather than complete and does not report a new medical update beyond her early post-surgery ability to walk short distances.
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Key Questions
What injury did the author sustain?
She wrote that an MRI several days after the incident showed a right hamstring tear from the sit bone. The essay does not include the scan report or further clinical details.
Where did the injury happen?
She said it happened at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, while she was visiting with her friend Peggy around her 56th birthday.
Did she have surgery?
Yes. The essay says the surgery was successful and that she could walk slowly, with a limp, for short distances within a day. It does not give the operation date or a complete recovery timeline.
Did the injury cure her depression?
The author said the pain brought her attention into the present and that depressive thought loops and anxiety dissipated at that point. That is her personal account; the essay does not establish that an injury treats or cures depression.
What support and routines did she describe during recovery?
She listed physical therapy, psychotherapy, writing, art, reading, breath work, meditation, music, time in nature and close friends. She also arranged bathroom supports at home because she lives alone.
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