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It is not how much arthritis you have. It is which joints, because that decides what work is supposed to be left for you.
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Arthritis claims get refused more or less automatically when the file says degenerative changes and nothing else. Nearly everybody past a certain age has degenerative changes on imaging, examiners know it, and a claim that rests on the word arthritis is asking to be turned down.
What decides these claims is which joints are involved and what those joints are needed for. That is not a medical distinction so much as a working one, and the whole assessment runs on it.
If your knees and hips are the problem, you cannot stand, and the answer you will get is that you can sit down and work. If your hands are the problem, sitting down does not help at all. A claim involving both is a much stronger claim than one involving either, and people routinely fail to mention the second.
Osteoarthritis of the hips, knees, hands, wrists and shoulders, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and other inflammatory joint disease. Where the arthritis is in the spine, the pages on spine conditions and neck conditions deal with it directly.
The assessment finds work you can still do. Which joints are affected decides what it can find, and a claim that only describes one group leaves the other half of the answer open.
| What is being compared | Weight-bearing joints Hips, knees, ankles and feet | Manipulative joints Hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders |
|---|---|---|
| What it stops | Weight-bearing joints Standing, walking, climbing, carrying. Rules out most physical trades. | Manipulative joints Gripping, pinching, typing, handling small objects, reaching above shoulder height. |
| The work that gets suggested instead | Weight-bearing joints Seated work. This is the standard answer and it is why weight-bearing claims alone are difficult. | Manipulative joints Nothing obvious, which is why hand involvement is the more valuable half of an arthritis claim. |
| Evidence that measures it | Weight-bearing joints Standing and walking tolerance, use of a stick or frame, joint replacement history and the result. | Manipulative joints Grip and pinch strength, range of motion, deformity, documented difficulty with fine tasks. |
| What people forget to mention | Weight-bearing joints How long they can stay on their feet before they have to stop, as opposed to how far they can walk once. | Manipulative joints Dropping things, needing help with buttons and jars, and being unable to use a keyboard for long. |
| Why it matters together | Weight-bearing joints and Manipulative joints Where both groups are affected, the usual answer of seated light work is closed off, and that combination is what most often decides an arthritis claim. Say so at the outset rather than answering only the questions you are asked. | |
Rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and related conditions are not severe osteoarthritis. They behave differently and they are assessed differently, and a claim that presents them as bad joint pain gives away most of its strength.
These conditions affect more than joints. Fatigue is a genuine and often dominant feature. Other organ systems can be involved. The medication itself carries consequences, including immune suppression and its effect on being in a workplace at all.
Function between flares can be reasonable, which creates the same difficulty as the multiple sclerosis and bipolar pages describe: an assessment on a good day describes a person who looks employable. The frequency and duration of flares is the claim, and it has to be documented as it happens rather than reconstructed later.
Blood markers, the specialist’s notes on disease activity, the record of which treatments were tried and how each one worked. A history of escalating treatment is strong evidence that the disease is not controlled, and it is the kind of detail that gets summarized out of a file unless somebody gathers it deliberately.
General information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. The only way to know where yours stands is to have someone look at it.
Imaging and function do not track each other closely in arthritis, and examiners lean heavily on imaging. What answers it is clinical evidence: range of motion measured over time, swelling and deformity, grip strength, and a treating opinion that addresses what you can still do rather than what the picture shows.
That is relevant in both directions. Being on a waiting list documents how bad the joint is. It also means a decision maker may expect improvement afterwards, so the claim usually has to address what the rest of your condition will look like once that joint is dealt with, particularly if other joints are involved.
Then say so clearly, because the assumption runs the other way. A replaced joint that remains painful or restricted, or a second joint that has deteriorated since, is important evidence and it is often missing from files that stop at the operation.
Almost always, and it is the reason inflammatory claims are refused. The claim is about how many days a month you would be unable to work, and about whether an employer could rely on you. Keep a dated record of flares, including how long each lasted, because that is far more persuasive than a general statement about bad days.
It can. The rules take age into account when deciding whether somebody could realistically adjust to different work, and the threshold for a claim can be lower for older claimants who have only ever done physical jobs.
Our fees are set by federal statute, are contingency only, and are the lesser of 25% not to exceed the statutory maximum of $9,200.
There is nothing to pay up front and nothing to pay if the claim does not succeed. The fee comes out of past-due benefits when they are awarded, and it has to be approved.
The conditions we have written about are the ones we are asked about most often. They are not the only ones that qualify, and the list is not a test you have to appear on.
A disability claim is decided on what your conditions do to your ability to work, not on the name of the diagnosis. Several problems that are each manageable on their own can add up to something that is not, and that combination is frequently the strongest part of a claim.
If what you have is not on this site, that tells you nothing about your claim. Tell us what you have been diagnosed with and what it stops you doing, and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth pursuing.
The rest of this practice area, in case your situation fits one of them better.
One incident can open more than one claim, and they are handled together here.
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No cost, no obligation, and no fee unless we win.
Free consultation, no fee unless we win.
No fee unless we win
