Can I Get Disability for Degenerative Joint Disease?

Degenerative joint disease—also known as osteoarthritis, degenerative arthritis, or degenerative arthropathy—is a medical condition where the cartilage (protective tissue) at the end of your bones wears away, causing your joints to become inflamed. Degenerative joint disease is a progressive disorder, meaning it gets worse over time. As you lose the shock-absorbing properties of bone cartilage, you may find it difficult or painful to move the affected joints.

Symptoms from degenerative joint disease can occur anywhere, but are most common in the hands, shoulders, neck, hips, knees, and lower back. These symptoms frequently include pain, decreased range of motion in the affected joint, stiffness, and swelling. If your symptoms are severe enough to keep you from working full-time for twelve months or longer, you may qualify for Social Security disability benefits (SSDI or SSI).

Is My Degenerative Joint Disease Considered a Disability?

Social Security can award disability benefits to people who have a medically determinable impairment that prevents them from earning substantial gainful activity for at least one year and either meets the requirements of a listed impairment ("medically disabled") or causes functional limitations that rule out all jobs ("vocationally disabled").

Listed impairments are medical conditions that the Social Security Administration (SSA) considers especially severe. In order to qualify for disability benefits by "meeting a listing," your degenerative joint disease symptoms will need to be intense enough to keep you from performing basic motions, such as getting up from a seated position.

Most people with degenerative joint disease won't have such significant limitations from the condition that they'll get disability benefits "automatically" by meeting a listing. Instead, they'll need to show that their symptoms interfere with their ability to work to the point where no jobs exist that they can comfortably perform.

Getting Disability Benefits by Meeting a Listing

The SSA evaluates degenerative joint disease under Section 1.00 of the agency's "Blue Book" of listed impairments, which covers disorders of the musculoskeletal system. If you've had surgery to treat your degenerative joint disease, you may qualify for benefits under listing 1.17, Reconstructive surgery or surgical arthrodesis of a major weight-bearing joint. If you haven't had surgery but have significant difficulty walking or using your hands, you may qualify under listing 1.18, Abnormality of a major joint in any extremity.

Meeting Listing 1.17 for Surgery on a Major Weight-Bearing Joint

Disability claimants who've had reconstructive surgery or surgical arthrodesis (fusion) of a major weight-bearing joint may qualify for benefits under listing 1.17. Major weight-bearing joints means your hips, knees, and "ankle-foot." (The SSA considers ankles and feet together as one joint.) In order to meet the requirements of listing 1.17, your medical records need to contain evidence of the following:

• history of reconstructive surgery or arthrodesis on the major weight-bearing joint
• physical limitations that have lasted, or are expected to last, for at least 12 months, and
• a documented medical need for a walker, bilateral canes or crutches, or a wheelchair or scooter that requires use of both hands.

One of the key elements of listing 1.17 is being unable to use both of your hands, so if you're using a single-handed cane or crutch to get around, you won't be able to meet this listing. For more information about how listing 1.17 is applied for specific joints, see our articles on getting disability after hip replacement or knee replacement surgery.

Meeting Listing 1.18 for Abnormality of a Major Joint in Any Extremity

If you haven't yet had surgical intervention to treat your degenerative joint disease—or your affected joint isn't considered "weight-bearing"— you may still meet the requirements of listing 1.18. For the purpose of this listing, major joints means your shoulder, elbow, and "wrist-hand" in your upper extremities, and hip, knee, and "ankle-foot" in your lower extremities. To meet the requirements of listing 1.18, you'll need to have medical documentation of each of the following:

• chronic joint pain and stiffness
• abnormal motion, instability, or immobility of the affected joint
• objective evidence of the abnormality, like contracture on physical examination or ankylosis visible on medical imaging, and
• significant functional limitations such that you need a bilateral assistive device to walk, you need a one-handed assistive device to walk but you can't use the other arm or hand for basic tasks, or you can't use both of your upper extremities for basic tasks.

As with listing 1.17, being unable to use both of your arms and hands—whether because you need them to use your assistive device or because they're affected by degenerative joint disease—is a key component of meeting this listing. People with extensive degeneration in their hips often rely on ambulatory aids to get around, so you may meet this listing if your "free hand" is limited in what it can do.

Few claimants with degenerative joint disease will meet the criteria of the above listings. You might have to use a cane and have a lot of pain walking and standing, but you don't have a documented need for two canes or a walker. In this case, you'd have trouble doing a lot of jobs, but you wouldn't meet one of the above listings. However, you can still qualify for disability benefits if your residual functional capacity, or RFC, contains enough restrictions to rule out both your past work and any other jobs in the national economy.

Getting Disability Benefits by Ruling Out All Work

Your RFC is a set of limitations, physical and mental, on what you can still do in a work environment despite your symptoms of degenerative joint disease. Social Security reviews your medical records and activities of daily living for evidence of restrictions that should be included in your RFC.

For example, if you have problems with your hip or knee joints, your RFC might rule out jobs where you'd have to be on your feet all day. If your symptoms are mild or moderate, the agency may conclude that you're still able to do a sit-down job, but more painful symptoms that require you to lie down during the day or interfere with your concentration can eliminate even sedentary work. Degenerative joint disease in your shoulders, arms, and hands can exclude jobs where you'd have to reach above your head (like stocking groceries) or type frequently (most office work).

Social Security compares the restrictions in your current RFC with the duties of your past relevant work to see if you could still do those jobs today. If not, the agency will take additional factors—such as your age, education, and transferable skills—into account to determine whether you could be expected to perform less demanding work. For claimants under the age of 50, this generally means needing to show that you can't do the simplest, least physically strenuous jobs, but claimants 50 years of age and older may have an easier time qualifying for benefits using the medical-vocational grid rules.

Medical Evidence You'll Need to Get Disability for Degenerative Joint Disease

Your medical records are the foundation of your disability claim. The SSA can't award you benefits based on subjective symptoms alone, so make sure that you let the agency know the contact information for all medical providers you've seen who can provide objective evidence of your degenerative joint disease. Social Security will be on the lookout for the following documentation:

• physical examination reports including diagnostic signs (such as straight leg raising) or reduced range of motion
• imaging and diagnostic tests—lab results, X-rays, or MRIs—showing evidence of joint abnormalities
• prescriptions for assistive devices like a cane or walker
• operative reports for any surgical procedures, and
• a list of medications you've tried, including dosages and any side effects

Any restrictions that Social Security includes in your RFC have to be supported by your medical records, so be open about your symptoms with your regular doctor. You may also consider asking your doctor to write a letter containing a medical opinion about how severe your symptoms of degenerative joint disease are and in what ways they limit your functioning.

VA Disability Ratings for Degenerative Joint Disease

Veterans who have service-connected degenerative joint disease may qualify for a disability rating from the VA. As a musculoskeletal condition, the percentage rating you're assigned will depend on the affected body part and how reduced your range of motion is (as established by X-ray findings) as a result of the degenerative joint disease. But even if your range of motion isn't severe enough to qualify under a specific joint code, you can still get a 10% or 20% rating using the diagnostic code for degenerative arthritis, provided that multiple joints are affected.

Disability Benefit Amounts for Degenerative Joint Disease

Neither the VA nor the SSA pays disability benefits based on the kind of medical condition you have. If you're approved for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), you'll receive a monthly payment amount that's calculated based on your earnings record, and if you're approved for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you'll receive a flat rate (the "federal benefit rate") minus any countable income you have in that month.

For 2025, the federal benefit rate for SSI is $967 per month, although many states provide a modest supplemental amount in addition to the federal baseline. SSDI benefits max out at $4,018 per month, although the average amount is much less, at $1,580.

VA compensation is calculated based on a combination of your percentage disability rating and your living situation. For example, in 2025, a married veteran with one dependent child and a disability rating of 30% will receive $648.42 monthly from the VA, while a veteran with the same family structure and an 80% rating would be entitled to $2,340.89 per month.

How to Apply for Disability Benefits and What to Do If You're Denied

An easy way to apply for Social Security disability benefits is by using Social Security's online web portal. You can also file a claim over the phone by calling the national disability hotline at 800-772-1213 (TTY 800-325-0078) between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. If you'd prefer to apply in person, you can make an appointment at your nearest Social Security field office.

Veterans can apply for benefits by submitting VA Form 21-526, Application for Disability Compensation and Related Compensation Benefits. The VA encourages veterans to submit this form electronically, but you can also print it out and bring it with you to your regional VA field office. Learn more about how to apply in our article on filing for veterans' disability benefits.

Keep in mind that most Social Security disability claims aren't approved on the first try, and many veterans aren't immediately awarded compensation from the VA. Try not to get too discouraged if you've received a denial letter, even if it's your second time. You have several avenues to appeal a VA denial, and your best chance of getting an award from the SSA isn't until the hearing stage. If you want help with your initial application or to appeal a denial, consider getting an experienced disability lawyer to represent you.