If you are dealing with radiculopathy and struggling to keep up with sitting, standing, or using your hands consistently throughout the workday, the issue is usually not the diagnosis itself—it is whether your symptoms prevent you from sustaining your job on a full-time basis.
Radiculopathy claims are often denied even when imaging confirms nerve compression. Insurers frequently argue that a claimant can perform sedentary work, without fully accounting for pain, positional limitations, or the inability to maintain activity over time.
This page explains when radiculopathy can qualify for long term disability benefits, what evidence matters most, and why these claims are often challenged.
In most radiculopathy claims, the central issue is not whether nerve compression exists. It is whether your symptoms prevent you from sustaining work activity on a consistent basis.
Many claimants can sit, stand, or use their hands for short periods of time. The dispute is whether those activities can be performed throughout a full workday and workweek without significant pain, interruption, or decline in function.
This distinction between performing tasks once and sustaining them over time is often what determines whether a claim is approved or denied.
Radiculopathy claims are frequently denied or terminated, even when supported by imaging and clinical findings. This is because insurers often focus on whether a claimant can perform “sedentary” work, rather than whether they can sustain that work over a full day.
Common denial arguments include:
These arguments often fail to account for pain with sitting, using a computer, the need to frequently change positions, or the inability to maintain consistent function over time.
Yes, you can get long term disability for symptoms of radiculopathy. The impact of radiculopathy can be profound. If you experience lower extremity (lumbar) radiculopathy, your symptoms may radiate from the lower back down to the legs, affecting your mobility and ability to perform daily activities. In the case of upper extremity (cervical) radiculopathy, symptoms often involve the neck, shoulders, arms, and hands, which can hinder your physical functioning and ability to perform tasks requiring dexterity. If your radiculopathy significantly impairs you from performing the material duties of your occupation, you may qualify for long term disability benefits.
Radiculopathy, often referred to as a “pinched nerve,” is a condition that occurs when nerves in the spine become compressed or irritated. This compression can result from a number of conditions, not limited to but including:
Disabling symptoms of radiculopathy may vary depending on the location of the affected spinal nerve root and the underlying cause of your condition. However, there are several common and potentially debilitating symptoms associated with radiculopathy. These disabling symptoms may include:
Any of the above symptoms may prevent you from performing your job duties and cause long term disability. For example, if you experience lower extremity radiculopathy, pain may radiate from the lower back into the buttocks and down one or both legs. This can lead to difficulties with walking, standing, or sitting for extended periods. In contrast, upper extremity radiculopathy may cause pain in the neck and shoulders, often extending into the arms and hands. Gripping objects, performing fine motor tasks, or even typing on a keyboard can become challenging.
A diagnosis of radiculopathy is not enough. The strength of a claim depends on showing how nerve involvement translates into functional limitations that prevent consistent work activity.
Examples of medical evidence for radiculopathy may include:
Yes. In many cases, the key issue is not whether radiculopathy exists, but whether the evidence clearly documents:
To provide your insurer with more objective evidence of your radiculopathy’s impact on your functioning, consider undergoing a Functional Capacity Evaluation (“FCE”). Objective medical evidence will hold the most weight with your insurer when they assess your claim. Of course, doctors do not keep records for the purpose of establishing disability for insurers, and as a result they may not capture the full extent of your restrictions and limitations. The FCE is an opportunity to obtain additional objective evidence of your physical limitations.
During an FCE, a trained healthcare professional evaluates your strength, endurance, range of motion, and functional capabilities. The results of this assessment can offer insights into how radiculopathy impacts your ability to engage in various work-related activities, such as lifting, carrying, standing, and sitting.
Insurance providers often place significant weight on FCE results when evaluating disability claims. An FCE can help bridge the gap between subjective symptom descriptions and objective evidence, making it an invaluable tool in demonstrating the extent of your functional impairment caused by radiculopathy.
Stock video courtesy of Videezy and Pexels / Music courtesy of Bensound
It is important that the evaluation reflects not just what you can do once, but what you can sustain over time.
In many radiculopathy claims, the central dispute is whether you can perform your own occupation — or any occupation — given your physical limitations. Insurers often rely on generalized job classifications that do not fully reflect the demands of professional roles.
This is why you need vocational evidence. Vocational evidence can help emphasize specific duties, rather than generic categories of work. For example, vocational evidence can emphasize sitting tolerance versus sedentary work, or real job demands versus more generic descriptions.
Vocational evidence to support your radiculopathy disability claim may include:
Stock video courtesy of Videezy and Pexels / Music courtesy of Bensound
Vocational evidence holds great importance in supporting your long term disability claim for radiculopathy. This evidence links the specific demands of your occupation to the limitations imposed by your condition. By providing a clear connection between your job and your radiculopathy’s impact on your ability to perform your duties, vocational evidence can strengthen your claim significantly.
Can I qualify for disability if my MRI only shows “mild” findings?
Yes. Imaging severity does not always reflect the level of pain or functional limitation.
Why does the insurer say I can do sedentary work?
Insurers often rely on general job classifications that do not account for sitting tolerance or real job demands.
Is pain enough to qualify for disability?
Pain can support a claim if it limits your ability to function consistently and is supported by medical evidence.
For example, our client “Alan” was working as a partner attorney for a major law firm when he began developing cervical radiculopathy due to a progressive spinal condition. The cervical pain and numbness were worsened by sitting for extended periods as his role required. Eventually, Alan was forced to leave his work due to his condition. He had long term disability coverage through multiple insurance policies, both provided by his employer and purchased individually. When he filed his claims, one of his insurers denied his benefits. Alan retained Riemer Hess to handle his disability claims and the appeal.
Riemer Hess worked to obtain additional evidence, including a Functional Capacity Evaluation, narrative reports from Alan’s treating providers, and a vocational assessment. When this evidence was submitted with a detailed appeal letter, the insurer came back with their own non-examining medical paper reviewers’ reports rebutting the informed opinions of Alan’s treating providers. Riemer Hess quickly coordinated with Alan’s providers to refute these medical paper reviewers and submitted this along with additional treatment records and assessments. In turn, the insurer ultimately approved Alan’s claim going forward.
Separately, Alan had both a group and individual claim with another insurer, which were initially approved. However, after receiving benefits for two years, the insurer alleged that Alan could work part-time (though no such requirement was in either policy) and threatened to terminate his claims. Riemer Hess succeeded in getting the insurer to continue benefits under the group policy, but they terminated the claim under the individual policy. As a result, Riemer Hess helped Alan sue Unum for reinstatement of his benefits.
Riemer Hess successfully established to the court that Alan’s condition, including symptoms of radiculopathy, meant he could not even work part-time, let alone perform at full capacity. Ultimately the judge sided with Alan, determining that Unum owed him back payment of benefits, including interest and attorneys’ fees, in a total victory for our client.
You may want to speak with a lawyer if:
A lawyer can help identify gaps in the evidence and present your limitations in a way that addresses how insurers evaluate disability.
We’ve helped secure long term disability benefits for countless clients, many involving symptoms of radiculopathy.