The main goals of joint protection are to improve the client's ability to perform daily activities, prevent loss of function and facilitate successful adaptation to activities and schedules.*
The following principles are important in achieving these goals:**

◦ Respect pain
◦ Maintain muscle strength and joint range of motion
◦ Use each joint in its most stable anatomic or functional plane
◦ Avoid positions of deformity or forces in the direction of deformity
◦ Use the strongest, largest joints available for the job
◦ Ensure correct patterns of movement
◦ Avoid staying in one position for long periods of time
◦ Avoid activities that cannot be stopped immediately
◦ Balance rest and activity
◦ Reduce the force used in activities

* Feinberg & Trombly 1995, Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction; Melvin, 1989, Rheumatic Disease in the Adult and Child
** Cordery & Rocchi, 1998, Rheumatologic Rehabilitation: Assessment and Management; Melvin 1989, Rheumatic Disease in the Adult and Child.