Last monday my knee started bothering me after my sailing class. I spent the better part of three hours squatting over the centerboard and twisting into uncomfortable positions to get out of the way of the boom.

Also, the type of folk dancing I do is notorious for taking out knees. We jump up and down a lot and twist around on one leg, etc, etc.

Does anyone have any knee strenghtening exercises or stretchs that I can do to prevent injury? It's not killing me or anything but it's letting me know that there is some tension there.

Jessica -- try leg extensions and taking Glucosamine... My husband swears by it for his knee joint problems, I have recommended it to several ppl and they all said that it worked very well for them too... If you are alergic to fish then you can't take it...

yep I use glucosamine to ease the pain on my knees for soccer. It works a treat.

JC

glucosamine and condroitin are good for keeping your n=knees, ligaments etc healthy.

You could also try some water work - literally stand on one leg and do some knee raises and leg extensions etc then change legs. You could even tie a noodle (long tube of polystyrene) to your ankle and work against this as resitsance.

if you can do this then you will be working your leg without weight - strengthening and rehabbing at the same time!

I could give you more info if you need/want it