HEALTH WATCH : Getting a Leg Up on Future Knee Trouble

Your stationary exercise bike has been a lovely home for your hanging philodendron. But now the time has come to wipe off the dust balls and work on protecting your knee from damage.

Your knee?

The knee can only take so much abuse before it throws up its hands and says, “All right, already!”

The trick is in developing strength and flexibility in the quadriceps and hamstrings--the muscles that lead down the leg and around the knee. Conditioning them helps protect the knee and can also “atone for past knee sins,” says James Garrick, director of the center for sports medicine at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.

Which brings us to the exercise bike.

Experts say you should start out at a slow pace. They suggest riding for 20 minutes three to four times a week at a tension on the bike that challenges but doesn’t overtire. They also note that you should warm up by riding the bike at a low tension, then do the hardest part of the workout.

“Everybody tries to do the hardest part at the end, but that’s when you’re fatiguing and more likely to hurt yourself,” Garrick says.

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Prescription for Happiness: Forget what you’ve heard about physicians regretting their career choices and complaining that being a doctor is a drag.

A survey of 251 California physicians found that most derive considerable intellectual and emotional satisfaction from their work. A majority even say doctoring is fun.

The study, conducted in 1992 by researchers from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, contradicts the widely publicized view that doctors are so disgruntled that, if they had it to do over again, they would choose another career.

This health roundup, compiled from wire-service reports, appears in View on Tuesdays.