502-244-4800
I have spent more than four decades around Social Security disability claims, and I have learned that arthritis is one of the conditions people often underestimate until it changes nearly every part of an ordinary day.
A person who once worked steadily may reach a point where turning a key, fastening a button, standing at a counter, or walking across a parking lot causes significant pain and requires far more time than it once did.
That does not automatically make a disability claim easy to prove. The Social Security Administration (SSA) needs evidence showing not only that arthritis exists, but also how the condition limits the claimant’s ability to function and whether those limitations prevent sustained work.
For someone in Louisville, that difference can be very real. Being able to drive a short distance along Shelbyville Road for a medical appointment does not necessarily mean a person can use both hands throughout a workday.
Walking through a grocery store in Middletown with a cart for support does not establish the ability to stand, carry, bend, and walk reliably for eight hours, five days a week.
As a Louisville arthritis disability lawyer, I look for the details that connect the medical record to the actual demands of employment. The type of arthritis, the affected joints, and the pattern of pain, stiffness, swelling, fatigue, and reduced movement all matter.
Can You Get Disability for Arthritis?
Yes, a person can receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for arthritis when the medical and functional evidence satisfies SSA’s requirements. A diagnosis by itself, however, is not enough.
SSA generally asks whether the condition is medically determinable, severe, expected to last at least 12 months, and serious enough to prevent substantial gainful activity.
The agency may approve a claim because the arthritis meets or medically equals a listed impairment.
If it does not, SSA may evaluate the claimant’s Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) to determine what work, if any, the person can still perform on a regular and continuing basis.
Arthritis is common, but its effects vary considerably. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 18.9% of adults in the United States had diagnosed arthritis in 2022.
The prevalence rose from 3.6% among adults ages 18 to 34 to 53.9% among adults age 75 and older.
Those statistics show the reach of the condition, not who qualifies for benefits. The question in an individual claim is whether the evidence demonstrates limitations severe enough to keep that particular person from sustaining competitive employment.
Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis Are Not Evaluated the Same Way
In my experience, claimants are often told simply that they have “arthritis,” even though the distinction between inflammatory and degenerative disease can shape the entire disability analysis. Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis may cause overlapping symptoms, but SSA does not necessarily evaluate them under the same listing.
Rheumatoid Arthritis May Be Considered Under SSA Listing 14.09
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease. It may cause persistent swelling, tenderness, pain, stiffness, fatigue, and progressive joint damage. It can also affect organs and body systems beyond the joints.
SSA Listing 14.09 for inflammatory arthritis addresses several possible patterns of severe disease.
Depending on the evidence, the listing may apply when inflammatory arthritis causes:
- Persistent inflammation or deformity in major joints, together with specified, serious limitations in walking or using the upper extremities.
- Inflammation or deformity in a major joint, involvement of two or more organs or body systems, and at least two constitutional symptoms such as severe fatigue, fever, malaise, or involuntary weight loss.
- Certain levels of spinal fixation caused by ankylosing spondylitis or another spondyloarthropathy.
- Repeated manifestations of inflammatory arthritis, at least two constitutional symptoms or signs, and a marked limitation in daily activities, social functioning, or timely task completion.
The precise requirements are demanding. A record stating “rheumatoid arthritis” without documenting the affected joints, objective findings, related symptoms, and functional consequences may leave critical parts of the listing unaddressed.
Osteoarthritis Is Usually Evaluated Through Musculoskeletal Rules
Osteoarthritis is generally a degenerative condition involving cartilage breakdown and changes within a joint. It commonly affects the knees, hips, hands, and spine. The resulting pain, stiffness, reduced range of motion, instability, and weakness can become disabling. Still, SSA does not evaluate osteoarthritis as inflammatory arthritis under Listing 14.09 merely because it includes the word arthritis.
SSA may instead consider the applicable musculoskeletal criteria, including rules for abnormalities of major joints or certain spinal disorders.
The agency looks for appropriate medical findings such as chronic joint pain or stiffness, restricted or abnormal motion, anatomical changes, and imaging that documents narrowing, destruction, deformity, or other pathology.
Many osteoarthritis claims are ultimately decided through the RFC analysis. The evidence may show that a person cannot stand or walk long enough for light work, cannot lift the amounts required for prior employment, or cannot use the hands frequently enough for sedentary work, even if every requirement of a listing is not met.
A Side-by-Side Look at the Evidence
For rheumatoid arthritis, I pay close attention to rheumatology records, inflammatory findings, swelling and tenderness, laboratory evidence when relevant, medication response, constitutional symptoms, flare frequency, joint deformity, and any involvement outside the joints.
For osteoarthritis, the record may rely more heavily on orthopedic examinations, range-of-motion findings, gait changes, weakness, instability, imaging, injection findings, surgical recommendations, assistive devices, and the practical effects of pain and stiffness.
Neither condition is automatically more or less disabling. The distinction changes the analysis path and the evidence needed to support it.
Documenting Joint Limitations in a Disability Claim
When I review an arthritis claim, I want to know whether the medical record documents what happens when the claimant repeatedly uses the affected joints. A brief examination on a relatively good morning may not show the full effect of an eight-hour workday.
The SSA’s evidentiary guidance calls medical evidence the cornerstone of the disability determination. It also explains that after establishing an impairment, SSA considers both medical and nonmedical evidence when assessing how the condition affects workplace functioning.
Fine and Gross Motor Movements
Arthritis in the hands, wrists, elbows, or shoulders can interfere with both fine and gross movements. SSA may consider the ability to reach, push, pull, grasp, finger, and handle objects on a sustained basis.
I ask clients about concrete tasks. Can they button clothing, open containers, type, write, sort papers, turn knobs, hold a phone, carry a pan, or pick up coins? Do they drop objects? Do their hands stiffen after several minutes? Does swelling make rings, braces, or work gloves difficult to use?
These are not minor details. Many jobs described as sedentary still require frequent handling, fingering, reaching, or keyboard use. A claimant who can sign a form once may not be able to perform repetitive hand activity throughout the day.
Walking, Standing, and Changing Positions
Arthritis affecting the knees, hips, ankles, feet, or spine may limit walking, standing, climbing, balancing, stooping, and the ability to remain in one position.
I look for consistency between the claimant’s account and the examinations that document reduced range of motion, altered gait, swelling, weakness, tenderness, instability, or a medical need for a cane, walker, or other device.
Local daily life can help explain the limitation. A person may manage the short walk from a parking space to an office on North Watterson Trail but need to sit and recover afterward. Someone may avoid the stairs, plan trips around seating availability, or be unable to tolerate a drive on Interstate 64 without stopping or changing position.
The issue is not whether the claimant can walk at all. It is whether the person can perform the standing and walking required by work safely, predictably, and often enough to remain employed.
Swelling, Deformity, and Imaging
Joint swelling and deformity should be documented whenever they are present. Physical examinations may record warmth, tenderness, synovitis, loss of grip strength, nodules, contractures, reduced range of motion, or visible changes in the hands, knees, feet, and other joints.
X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging, and other medically acceptable imaging may show joint-space narrowing, erosion, cartilage loss, bone changes, deformity, or ankylosis.
Imaging is important, but it should be read alongside the treatment history and functional evidence. A scan does not by itself show how long a person can stand or how often pain interrupts concentration.
Consistent Rheumatology and Treatment Records
For inflammatory arthritis, consistent rheumatology records can be particularly valuable. They may show the disease course, the joints involved, flare frequency, laboratory findings, medication adjustments, side effects, and whether treatment has controlled symptoms.
A strong record may include:
- Rheumatology, orthopedic, and primary care notes.
- Imaging reports and relevant laboratory results.
- Range-of-motion, gait, grip-strength, and joint examinations.
- Records of injections, physical therapy, surgery, or recommended procedures.
- Medication histories, including effectiveness and side effects.
- Documentation supporting the medical need for a cane, walker, braces, or splints.
- Medical source opinions describing specific work-related limitations.
- Statements about daily functioning and unsuccessful attempts to keep working.
Treatment does not always produce steady improvement. Symptoms may fluctuate, medications may lose effectiveness, and side effects such as fatigue, nausea, dizziness, or slowed thinking may create additional work limitations. The record should show that history rather than reduce the condition to isolated appointment notes.
Flares and Good Days Can Make the Record Look Inconsistent
I have worked with many people whose abilities change from day to day. Rheumatoid arthritis may flare. Osteoarthritis pain may worsen after activity, with weather changes, or after prolonged sitting. A claimant may complete an errand one day and spend much of the next day recovering.
SSA still needs to decide what the person can do regularly. That makes frequency and duration important. How often do severe days occur? How long does morning stiffness last? How frequently must the person elevate a leg, lie down, change position, or stop using the hands? How many workdays would likely be missed?
National data help illustrate how serious the functional burden can become. In a CDC analysis of adults with arthritis, 30.8% reported severe joint pain. Among respondents who were unable to work or disabled, 66.9% reported severe joint pain.
The same study found that Kentucky had the nation’s highest age-adjusted rate of physical inactivity among adults with arthritis at 44.4% a decade ago. These figures do not establish any individual claim, but they show why arthritis-related limitations deserve a careful, individualized evaluation.
Residual Functional Capacity May Decide the Claim
Many people who cannot work because of arthritis do not meet every element of a medical listing. Their claims may depend on the RFC assessment.
RFC is SSA’s determination of the most a claimant can still do despite medically supported limitations.
In an arthritis case, that assessment may address:
- How long the person can sit, stand, and walk.
- How much the person can lift and carry.
- Whether a cane, walker, or other assistive device is medically necessary.
- How often the person can reach, handle, finger, push, pull, or use foot controls.
- Whether the person can climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
- Whether pain, fatigue, medication effects, or flares interfere with pace and concentration.
- Whether the person needs unscheduled breaks, position changes, or absences.
A restriction to “sedentary work” does not end the analysis. Sedentary jobs can still require prolonged sitting, adequate hand use, reliable attendance, and the ability to maintain pace. If arthritis prevents those activities, the vocational impact needs to be explained rather than assumed.
SSA also considers age, education, past work, and transferable skills later in the disability analysis. A claimant who spent decades in construction, warehouse work, nursing, food service, or another physically demanding occupation may face very different vocational questions from someone whose past work was performed primarily at a desk.
Other Conditions Should Not Be Separated From the Arthritis
Arthritis rarely exists in isolation. A claimant may also have obesity, diabetes, neuropathy, spinal disease, depression, anxiety, or another connective tissue disorder. Rheumatoid arthritis can produce severe fatigue and may affect other organs or systems.
SSA must consider the combined effects of medically determinable impairments.
A knee problem that creates a significant limitation on its own may become more restrictive when combined with lumbar pain, hand arthritis, or medication side effects. The claim should reflect the whole person rather than treating each diagnosis as if it operates independently.
What Happens If an Arthritis Claim Is Denied?
A denial is not a finding that the pain is imaginary or that the claimant is capable of returning to a former job. It means SSA concluded that the evidence, as reviewed at that stage, did not establish disability under its rules.
Appeal deadlines are strict. I review the stated reasons for denial, identify missing or underdeveloped evidence, gather updated treatment records, and prepare the claimant to explain the limitations accurately.
If the case reaches a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the testimony and vocational evidence need to address the demands of sustained work, not simply the name of the diagnosis.
Louisville-area claimants may have matters handled through the local hearing office associated with the Gene Snyder United States Courthouse on West Broadway. If a federal court appeal becomes necessary, I am admitted to practice in both the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky and before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Why I Chose to Represent People Seeking Disability Benefits
My work with disability claims began in the early 1980s, when I was a young paralegal with an Eastern Kentucky legal services program. I saw people who genuinely could not work struggle to get the benefits they needed, and I decided legal training would let me help them more fully.
I moved to Louisville in 1985 to attend the University of Louisville School of Law, now the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. Since passing the Kentucky Bar, I have concentrated my practice on Social Security disability law.
I am a member in good standing of the Kentucky Bar Association and Louisville Bar Association, have served as chairman of the Social Security Section of the Louisville Bar Association, and am a member of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives.
My role is personal. I want each client to understand what SSA is asking, what the record shows, and how we can present the claim as clearly as possible.
Talk With a Louisville Arthritis Disability Claims Attorney About Your Case
When arthritis has taken away your ability to keep working, you should not have to figure out SSA Listing 14.09, musculoskeletal criteria, medical records, and vocational rules on your own. I can review the type of arthritis you have, the treatment you have received, the joints and body systems affected, and the ways your condition interferes with reliable work.
Whether you are preparing an initial application, responding to a denial, or approaching an ALJ hearing, I will help you understand what comes next. Call Greg Marks at 502-244-4800 or contact the firm online to discuss your arthritis disability claim during a completely free consultation.
