Arthritis in Former Athletes in Professional Athletes

Arthritis is loss of the articular cartilage that allows joints to glide, leading to pain, stiffness, swelling and eventually bone-on-bone contact.

Post-traumatic arthritis follows injury to a joint — a ligament tear, fracture or meniscus loss — and typically appears earlier than primary osteoarthritis.

In former athletes arthritis is usually multi-joint: knees, hips, ankles, shoulders, hands and spine, all in one person.

• Every injured joint carries elevated long-term arthritis risk, and professional athletes accumulate many injured joints.
• Cartilage does not regenerate meaningfully, so damage sustained during a career is permanent.
• Altered mechanics after one injury overload adjacent joints, spreading damage over time.

Arthritis is the endpoint of cumulative trauma — the structural record of a career written into the joints.

Medical opinion typically compares the pattern and severity of arthritis to what would be expected for a person of the same age without that exposure.

More on how repetitive-exposure claims work: Cumulative trauma explained.

• Morning stiffness in multiple joints
• Pain that increases with weather changes and activity
• Progressive loss of range of motion
• Difficulty with stairs, kneeling, squatting and reaching overhead
• Reduced ability to exercise, which compounds other health problems

• Weight-bearing X-rays for each affected joint
• Range-of-motion measurement and functional testing
• MRI where cartilage or soft-tissue detail is needed
• Blood testing to exclude inflammatory arthritis where the pattern suggests it

• Complete injury history for every joint, since post-traumatic arthritis links back to specific injuries
• All prior operative reports
• Team injury reports, athletic training room logs and daily treatment notes
• Team physician and consulting specialist records, including imaging reports
• Surgical operative reports and post-operative rehabilitation notes
• Contracts, transaction history and roster or practice-squad records showing dates of employment
• Post-career medical records from primary care doctors, orthopedists and other specialists

Multi-joint arthritis is generally pled as cumulative trauma over the period of employment.

Impairment for each joint is typically evaluated and then combined under the applicable rating system.

Joint replacements, current and anticipated, are usually significant in both impairment and future medical care.

Rules differ by state and by sport. Eligibility factors and types of compensation cover the general framework.

• Physical therapy, weight management support and activity modification
• Injections, including corticosteroid and viscosupplementation where authorized
• Joint-preserving surgical procedures
• Joint replacement and later revision

• Combining impairments across many joints can produce a substantially higher overall rating than any single joint alone.
• Apportionment to age and non-industrial factors is heavily litigated in arthritis claims.
• Practical work limitations usually involve standing, walking, lifting, kneeling and overhead work simultaneously.