When I was a kid on the farm, dozens of everyday jobs required a strong back and a lot of muscle. This strenuous physical labor took a heavy toll on many farmers over the years. I remember a few of the old-timers around the neighborhood who were permanently bent almost double from a lifetime of punishing their bodies. Neither my father nor my uncle were large men, and probably never weighed as much as 150 pounds each, yet they, like so many others, did most of this hard work themselves, with the help of an
