The hamstrings are 3 muscles that run down the back of your leg. They help bend the knee and pull back the hip. If you've ever seen a baseball player sprinting to first base pull up and grab the back of their thigh, you've seen a common hamstring injury, one that can be rather painful. The term "hamstrung" comes from medieval times when a sword fighting knight would try to slice the back of his opponents thigh to immobilize him, or a slaveholder would slash a slave's hamstrin

We've run the gambit on the benefits of exercise, but one factor we haven't discussed yet is maintaining a higher quality of life, especially as we get older. The natural decay of our bodies combined with the modern sedentary lifestyle is a dangerous mix. Just as our balance begins to fade our bones grow more brittle, and the odds of a debilitating injury climb. Not only are such injuries painful, but they also cost us our independence as we have to rely more on canes and wa