Hamstringing is a method of crippling a person or animal so that they cannot walk properly by severing the hamstring tendons in the thigh of the individual.
Due to a lack of research in the field of critical hamstring injuries, current injury-management practice is quite limited.
[4] Management of the injury is based solely "on clinical experience, anecdotal evidence and the knowledge of the biological basis of tissue repair".
As a metaphor, to be "hamstrung" suggests being limited, by external imposition or not, in a way that prevents full freedom of movement or utilization of resources.
[6] Rendering chariot-horses lame by hamstringing is mentioned in the Book of Joshua in the Bible (the King James Version uses the term "houghing",[7] from an old spelling of hock).