Ways to Save Your Knees

• Exercise regularly to strengthen and increase flexibility of muscles around the knee and to improve your overall strength and fitness.

• Control your weight. When you walk, each extra pound adds four pounds of pressure to the kneecap. Climbing steps, that pound adds 20 pounds of pressure.

• Buy sturdy shoes made for your activity, and replace them when the inner or outer soles appear worn.

• Stretch daily. If you have tight muscles, you are more likely to strain them.

• Strengthen your legs, especially your hamstrings and quadriceps. Try hamstring curls: Lying on your abdomen, draw your lower legs upward. Use weights equal to about 10 percent of your body weight to add resistance. Do a few sets of 10 to 15 repetitions; hold them a second or two. For the quads, lie on your back, with one leg straight and the other bent. Using an ankle weight on the straight leg, lift your leg 12 inches off the ground. Do a few sets of 10 repetitions; hold them for a second or two.