Are your joints as strong as they could be? Joint weakness can lead to a variety of problems ranging from injuries to pain to stiffness. Making a few changes in your life will help you keep your joints strong and flexible.

Falls, arthritis, wear and tear, poor muscle tone, and even posture issues can cause weak joints. Unfortunately, once a joint is weak, you're more likely to develop injuries, including dislocations, fractures, strained muscles, and sprains. Weak joints may also affect your balance and increase your risk of falls. Here are 4 tips to strengthen your joints and continue doing the things you love.

1. Make Exercise a Priority

Exercise keeps joints limber, improves blood flow, and strengthens the muscles that support your joints. When your muscles are strong, you're less likely to injure yourself or suffer from joint pain. 

2. Improve Your Diet

Avoid processed, greasy, fried, fatty, sugary, or high-carbohydrate foods. A diet that includes fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, low-fat dairy products, chicken, fish, and lean meats is ideal.

3. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Carrying extra pounds stresses your joints, increasing your risk of injuries, osteoarthritis, and joint pain. Being obese or overweight is particularly hard on the joints in your knees. Losing weight can reduce the need for knee replacement surgery in obese patients with knee osteoarthritis by 31 percent, according to the American College of Rheumatology.

4. See Your Chiropractor

Regular visits to the chiropractor help keep your joints flexible and improve your range of motion. Subluxations, misalignments in your spine or other parts of your body, increase your risk of joint injuries and pain. Your chiropractor can correct subluxations with adjustments and other treatments that realign your joints and reduce tension on your muscles, tendons, soft tissues, and ligaments.