Sara's Rehab Success Story

·51 min·4 clips

Sarah describes crying herself to sleep over hamstring pain that made sitting unbearable.

This episode features host Brodie Sharp, a physiotherapist and runner, interviewing Sarah, a recreational runner who struggled with chronic proximal hamstring tendinopathy (PHT) for years. Sarah shares her detailed rehab journey, which ultimately led to significant improvement. Sarah first experienced PHT symptoms as far back as 2009, with a more chronic bout beginning in 2017 after she retired from a 20-year military career. She underwent numerous passive treatments, including multiple rounds of PRP injections, prolotherapy, dry needling, and a Tenex procedure, which provided only short-term relief. An MRI confirmed a diagnosis of bilateral proximal hamstring tendinopathy, and later, she was also diagnosed with gluteal tendinopathy. By late 2023, her pain intensified to the point where sitting and driving became unbearable, leading to significant distress. Sarah discovered Brodie's Run Smarter Podcast and began his strength-based rehab program in May 2024, which involved slow, heavy, progressive strength training three days a week. She noticed about a 60% improvement in sitting pain within the first three to six weeks and cautiously returned to running. However, during a 10-mile race in August 2024, she experienced pain and disappointment, prompting Brodie to recommend the book "Think Away Your Pain" by David Schechter. Sarah engaged in a 30-day journaling program from the accompanying workbook, which prompted her to explore connections between her pain and life stressors, including her daughter's cancer treatment. She read additional books on Tension Myoneural Syndrome (TMS) and listened to daily podcasts focused on mind-body connections. As an experiment, Sarah stopped her physical therapy exercises, and her pain did not worsen, leading her to believe her chronic pain had a significant mind-body component. Sarah identifies with personality traits often linked to TMS, such as being type A, perfectionistic, and a people-pleaser, and acknowledges carrying significant responsibility with a full-time job, a husband, and six children. Brodie explains how constant internet searching for answers and hypervigilance can amplify the brain's pain signals. Sarah now runs mostly pain-free in 2025, though she occasionally experiences manageable twinges, which she connects to periods of stress. The tone is conversational, educational, and deeply personal, blending a patient narrative with a clinician's perspective. This episode is ideal for runners struggling with chronic injuries who have tried numerous treatments without lasting success and are open to exploring mind-body connections. Listeners seeking a purely biomechanical or quick-fix approach to injury rehab might find the mind-body discussion less relevant.

As heard by us

A slow-burn rehab story that treats pain, training, and mindset as one problem.

Sarah's rehab story is told as a long, uneven stretch of work, not a quick fix. Brodie keeps the attention on load management, slow heavy progressive strength training, and the race day reality of sticking to a walk run plan while pain is still there.

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Why you'd press play

You want a real rehab story, not a tidy comeback montage.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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