Assessed as a back claim
Lifting and standing get considered, hands do not. The refusal then reasons that sedentary work is available, which is exactly the work the condition prevents.
Social Security Disability
Disability Benefits for Neck and Cervical Conditions
A neck claim is decided on what your arms and hands can do, and on how long you can hold your head in one position.
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This is not a back claim with a different label.
Cervical conditions get filed alongside lumbar ones and assessed as though they were the same thing, and they are not. A lower back claim is largely about lifting, standing and walking. A neck claim is largely about the arms and hands, and about position.
Cervical nerve root compression sends symptoms down the arm: weakness, numbness, dropping things, loss of fine control. Those are manipulative limitations, and they matter enormously, because the sedentary work an examiner falls back on when somebody cannot stand all day is precisely the work that requires constant use of the hands.
Somebody who cannot reach, handle or finger reliably cannot do sedentary work either, and that is the argument a properly built cervical claim makes.
Conditions this covers
Cervical disc herniation and degeneration, cervical stenosis, cervical radiculopathy, myelopathy, whiplash-associated disorder, failed cervical fusion, and cervicogenic headache.
- Reaching Overhead and forward. Rules out most work.
- Handling and fingering Grip, dexterity and dropping things.
- Holding a position Looking down at a screen or a bench.
- Headaches Frequent, and frequently left out of the file.
The two things cervical claims leave out
Both are common and both are avoidable.
Arm and hand function, measured
A file can contain a full cervical MRI report and nothing at all about grip strength, sensation in the fingers, or how long the claimant can keep their arms raised. Without that, the examiner has no basis to find manipulative limitation, and will assume there is none.
What helps: documented grip testing, sensory findings, any record of dropping objects or losing fine control, and a treating opinion that addresses use of the hands specifically.
Headaches, described properly
Cervicogenic headaches are a genuine consequence of neck pathology and are among the most under-documented symptoms in these files. Frequency, duration, what stops them and what they prevent you doing are worth recording, because a headache two or three days a week is on its own an attendance problem no employer tolerates.
Why neck claims get refused
Different failure modes from a lumbar claim.
No objective nerve findings
Symptoms down the arm without documented weakness, reflex change or sensory loss are read as subjective. Nerve conduction studies and careful examination findings answer this.
Headaches not in the record
Mentioned to the doctor in passing and never written down. A simple frequency log kept over a few months is unglamorous and unusually persuasive.
Fusion assumed to have worked
Surgery is treated as the end of the story. Post-operative limitation, adjacent segment problems and continuing symptoms have to be documented after the fact.
Questions
Neck and cervical claim questions
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.
How is this different from a back claim?
In what it stops you doing. A lumbar claim is mostly about standing, walking and lifting. A cervical claim is mostly about your arms and hands, and about how long you can hold your head in one position. That difference decides which jobs remain available on paper, and it is the whole argument.
My symptoms are in my hands, not my neck.
That is typical of cervical radiculopathy and it is worth making sure the record connects them. A file that documents hand symptoms without linking them to the cervical findings invites the conclusion that they are unrelated and therefore unexplained.
I had a fusion and it helped at first.
Initial improvement followed by deterioration is a common pattern and it needs documenting as a pattern. Where adjacent levels have since become symptomatic, the imaging and clinical findings that show it are important evidence.
It started with a car accident.
Then there may be an injury claim as well as a disability claim, and the two are handled together here. What was recorded in the first days after the collision is often useful evidence in both.
My employer offered lighter work and I could not do it.
That is valuable evidence. A failed attempt at accommodated work, documented by the employer, speaks directly to sustained functioning, which is the question the whole claim turns on.
What we charge
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.
If your condition is not one of these
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.
Other Social Security Disability pages
The rest of this practice area, in case your situation fits one of them better.
All Social Security Disability
SSDI denials, appeals and hearings.
Initial Applications
We prepare and file the whole claim. Most clients start here.
SSDI vs SSI
Two different programs, two different sets of rules.
Disability Appeals
What to do when the claim comes back denied.
Disability Hearings
The hearing in front of the judge, and how we prepare you for it.
SSI Children's Cases
Benefits for a child whose disability affects how they function.
SSD Widow's Benefits
Drawing on a late spouse's record, from 60, or from 50 if disabled.
Back Injuries & Spine Conditions
Qualifying with a spine condition, where function decides it.
Cancer
Some diagnoses qualify outright. Others turn on what treatment left behind.
COPD & Respiratory Conditions
Breathing test values, and the day the test was taken.
Depression & Anxiety Disorders
Assessed on functioning across a working week, not on a diagnosis.
PTSD
Reactivity and avoidance, and why the workplace itself is the barrier.
Multiple Sclerosis
A fluctuating illness, assessed on a single day. Closing that gap.
Heart Disease
Measured exertion, and the difference between stable and employable.
Stroke
What is left when recovery stops, and when to make the claim.
Bipolar Disorder
The cycle decides it. Well periods are read as capacity.
Arthritis
Which joints. Ones you stand on and ones you work with.
Amputations
The prosthesis, not the amputation, is what gets argued about.
The three areas we handle
One incident can open more than one claim, and they are handled together here.
Client Reviews
What our clients say
I highly recommend for anyone dealing with the disability process to contact Casper, Casper & Casper. Steve Casper along with Ben Hite were VERY helpful in the entire process. If I a had any questions or concerns; they had the answers and reassured me everything would be okay. They worked diligently on my case for months and I was FINALLY approved. This team of attorneys WILL help fight for you as they have for me.
Kimberly Moore
Google Review
I had been denied two times for social security after life changing damages to my back, ankle and knee, had paid into social security all my life and I'm 60 years old now. Steven Casper was compassionate and thorough and walked me through the process without any money to pay him he was able to get my social security approved and every dime of back pay for those two years I had waited and has assured me that if anything comes up he's there for me.
Maggie Still
Google Review
After I spent two years in a frustrating battle with the SSA, I finally contacted Casper, Casper, & Casper, and Robin took my disability case. In about six months, Robin had won my case, along with back pay. The whole process of working with this firm was pleasant and painless. The staff was quick to respond to my many questions and also to update my changing medical information.
Kevin Weinand
Google Review
If you have been denied disability benefits, I would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND this lawyers office!! Robin Partin and associates worked diligently on my case and fought for me! They were my voice and I won! 10/10
Janna Anderson
Google Review
I really cannot say enough about my attorney Steven Casper and his work ethic and professionalism. Also his legal assistant Ben, these two did a lot of prep work and fielding my many emails and answering my questions. Steven Casper prepped me personally for my appeal and court with an administrative law judge. This process is very slow dealing with Social Security but he kept me informed every step of the way with great detail and it played out exactly as he had described.
Michael Seagraves
Google Review
I can't thank Casper, Casper and Casper enough for what they did for me. From start to finish it took less than a year for them to help me get disability benefits. They did almost all of the groundwork and made it as painless for me as possible. I would highly recommend them to anyone.
Chester Thomas
Google Review
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