Chicago Lawyers Explain Social Security Disability Benefits for Arthritis

If you’ve experienced loss of function in your joints, you already know how much harder the everyday actions of living can be. If that’s not enough, yhe inflammation, swelling and pain of inflammatory arthritis — which includes rheumatoid (RA), psoriatic (PsA), among other forms — can keep you from working. If you need help shouldering the burden of medical bills and the costs of living, it can seem like you have no place to turn. But there is hope.

Our Chicago Lawyers Help You Qualify & Apply for Disability Benefits for Arthritis

At Nash Disability Law, our lawyers are focused on getting to know your specific needs. Our team has the experience of over three decades and thousands of cases to help you file and get the benefits you both need and deserve. Our lawyers know the system at both the local and federal levels, and they’ll get the right piece of evidence, at the right time, to the right person, in the right way to successfully apply or appeal your disability claim.

Social Security’s Disability Requirements for Arthritis

Inflammatory Arthritis is described as:

• Persistent inflammation or persistent deformity of:
  • One or more major peripheral weight-bearing joints resulting in the inability to ambulate effectively (as defined in 14.00C6); or
  • One or more major peripheral joints in each upper extremity resulting in the inability to perform fine and gross movements effectively (as defined in 14.00C7).

  OR

• Inflammation or deformity in one or more major peripheral joints with:
  • Involvement of two or more organs/body systems with one of the organs/body systems involved to at least a moderate level of severity; and
  • At least two of the constitutional symptoms or signs (severe fatigue, fever, malaise, or involuntary weight loss).

  OR

• Ankylosing spondylitis or other spondyloarthropathies, with:
  • Ankylosis (fixation) of the dorsolumbar or cervical spine as shown by appropriate medically acceptable imaging and measured on physical examination at 45° or more of flexion from the vertical position (zero degrees); or
  • Ankylosis (fixation) of the dorsolumbar or cervical spine as shown by appropriate medically acceptable imaging and measured on physical examination at 30° or more of flexion (but less than 45°) measured from the vertical position (zero degrees), and involvement of two or more organs/body systems with one of the organs/body systems involved to at least a moderate level of severity.

  OR

• Repeated manifestations of inflammatory arthritis, with at least two of the constitutional symptoms or signs (severe fatigue, fever, malaise, or involuntary weight loss) and one of the following at the marked level:
  • Limitation of activities of daily living.
  • Limitation in maintaining social functioning.
  • Limitation in completing tasks in a timely manner due to deficiencies in concentration, persistence, or pace.

But don’t worry, even if you don’t qualify for benefits under the Listing of Impairments, you can still qualify for disability based on arthritis if you can show that your symptoms make it impossible for you to work.