Warren Thayer

I pulled hamstrings out of my pelvis while getting up on water skis at age 50. It was a bad tear, and I walked for two years with a limp, could not run at all, and my active lifestyle was over. I was turned down for surgery everywhere I went and was told it was definitely inoperable and I just had to learn to deal with it. I did not know then of HSS and Dr. Wick. When I finally found him, he said he could probably make the repair and he did. Two or three months in a body brace, but it was all worth it. Excellent hospital care and follow-up. Went back to long-distance backpacking, tennis, and volunteer firefighting, with no problem whatever. A re-injury 10 years later required a re-do. It's not as strong as the uninjured leg, but can run, hike long distances and even got back on the Fire Department.

This is a follow-up report on my hamstring reinsertion/repair of four and a half years ago. I'm 67 now, and hiking has always been a huge part of my life. This was the second surgery after a reinjury about 10 years after the first repair. Progress was slower this time around, no doubt because of my age, and after long and strenuous hikes I'd have considerable pain, sometimes for several days. Not true anymore, and lots of hikes over 10 miles up and down steep slopes to prove it. My life would have been dramatically different over the past 15 years without HSS and Dr. Wick. I'd still be walking with a limp and hiking would have been out of the question. I'm grateful every day. Back in the Game!