Often times the reason our knees hurt is that they are not moving with proper alignment. This can cause knee pain, swelling, crunching, or even a grinding sound as we bend and straighten our knees. If you have knee alignment issues, patellofemoral syndrome, swelling in the knee, or general knee pain then you need to be doing exercises for your knee. The thing is, if you don't do the exercises with proper alignment, then you may be doing your knee more harm than good.

Master Pilates instructor and pain relief specialist, Craig Zuckerman, shows a great knee exercise in this video, designed to strengthen your knee while making it easy for you to keep proper alignment. Additionally, the exercise strengthens both the quad muscles (thigh) and the hamstring muscles (back of your thigh), which balances the musculature of the knee. It's easy to do and you need no equipment. It's even designed to be done while sitting!