Musculoskeletal System

The presence of a protein called Piezo1 plays a key role in how tendons heal – and a genetic mutation in that protein may also enhance athletic performance and keep us moving around longer and better.

By Hiroshi Asahara & Ryo Nakamichi

Surely you've had a knot in your neck at some point. But your muscles really aren't tied in knots. Or are they?

By Zachary Gillen

Hamstrings are a group of three muscles running down the back of the thigh, and they have a lot to do with your flexibility.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Careful with that chopping knife! If you lose a fingertip, it's probably gone forever. With kids, however, that's not always the case. Why is that?

By Kate Kershner

How does a 97-pound weakling become the World's Most Perfectly Developed Man, as Charles Atlas did? Through the sport known as bodybuilding. Here are 10 of the greatest, most well-known bodybuilders to grace the stage.

By Shanna Freeman

In a way, your spine is the keystone that holds your body together. Since it has so many important jobs, it has to develop in exactly the right way. How does this happen?

By Tracy V. Wilson

If you still want to be spry after a few decades of birthdays have passed, then sit up straight (literally) and pay attention. We've got 10 tips to keep you in action into your sunset years.

By Tom Scheve

Babies have adorable smiles and teeny tiny fingers, but there's a persistent rumor that these new, tiny humans don't have kneecaps. What's the story of a baby's bones?

By Tom Scheve

Oh, to be a kid again. Plenty of summer vacation, plenty of mud puddles and plenty of osteoblasts? There's a reason your kid can spring back from any injury while you're laid up for weeks.

By Tom Scheve

Unfortunately for him, Humpty Dumpty was not blessed with the human skeletal system. Why can your skeleton do what all the king's horses and all the king's men can't?

By Robert Lamb

How could a high-five or a handshake lead to a wrist fracture? People with osteogenesis imperfecta must carefully consider these seemingly innocent actions to prevent broken bones.

By Robert Lamb

Can humans regrow fingers? Fetuses can regrow almost anything that gets damaged while in the womb. But can adult humans can regrow fingers?

By Julia Layton

Exoskeletons normally cover insects, not humans. Why would a human ever want one? Is the possibility of an exoskeleton for humans just around the corner?

By Marshall Brain

Muscles are one of those things that most of us take completely for granted, but they're the body's engine. Without our muscles, we couldn't walk or talk -- and our blood would stop flowing.

By Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

If you've ever laced your fingers together, turned your palms away from you, bent your fingers back and heard a loud crack or pop, you know what knuckle-popping sounds like. So, what would happen if you popped your knuckles all the time?

By Katherine Neer