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Proximal hamstring tears are among the most common injuries afflicting athletes and middle-aged individuals. Sciatic nerve compression after a proximal hamstring injury, which can occur due to scar formation and subsequent irritation or compression of the nerve, is an infrequent but severe complication with few cases documented in the literature. No evidence is available about the optimal treatment for sciatic nerve symptoms after proximal hamstring injuries. In this case report, we present two cases involving patients primarily treated conservatively at another institution after suffering from a proximal hamstring injury and developing sciatic nerve symptoms over the course of a few months. Both were treated with open neurolysis at our institution without reattachment of the ruptured muscles to the ischial tuberosity due to the chronicity of the injuries. Both patients exhibited neurological symptoms over two years, which recovered after surgery. These two cases show that neurolysis of the sciatic nerve without reattachment of the proximal hamstring muscles is an applicable option for the treatment of chronic proximal hamstring tears with sciatic nerve compression. Further studies will be needed to validate this hypothesis.

We report the occurrence of X-rays at ground level due to cloud-to-ground flashes of upward-initiated lightning from Gaisberg Tower, in Austria, which is located at an altitude of 1300 m. This is the first observation of X-ray emissions from upward lightning from a tower top located at high altitude. Measurements were carried out using scintillation detectors installed close to the tower top in two phases from 2011 to 2015. X-rays were recorded in three subsequent strokes of three flashes out of the total of 108 flashes recorded in the system during both phases. In contrast to the observations from downward natural or triggered lightning, X-rays were observed only within 10 µs before the subsequent return stroke. This shows that X-rays were emitted when the dart leader was in the vicinity of the tower top, hence during the most intense phase of the dart leader. Both the detected energy and the fluence of X-rays are far lower compared to X-rays from downward natural or rocket-triggered lightning. In addition to the above 108 flashes, an interesting observation of X-rays produced by a nearby downward flash is also presented. The shorter length of dart-leader channels in Gaisberg is suggested as a possible cause of this apparently weaker X-ray production.