I have an employee who is 58 years old and has,I think,2 types of arthritis.His fingers are all mangled looking and he can barely walk.His job,as a welder,involves standing for up to 6-7 hours a day.He struggles in every aspect of his job and most often needs help from other employees.Over the last year it has only gotten worse.Without prying into his business,can anyone tell me if there will be one day where he will totally shut down and not be able to walk?By the info I have given can anyone estimate a time?I'm just concerned about him first and if he can have an accident from his health.

I would ask him

No, no one can tell him if some day he will be totally disabled. I am sure he fears this but pushes onward. You need to educate yourself about arthritus and see if he has rheumatoid arthritus or osteo-arthritus. There is a lot of help out there for arthritus but I have osteo-arthritus, not rheumatoid (harder, worse kind of arthritus).

One of the best products for arthritus I have ever used is at Walgreens Drug store for $20 bucks. It's called Glucosamine With Chondroitin + MSM and it's a liquid. Bright red on top, then yellow, then turquoise plastic bottle. 16 ozs. I drink two tablespoons daily and it has done remarkable things for my mobility.

Hi,

I am also betting that he is just trying his best to keep pushing on, doing whatever he needs to do to keep working & bring in an income. There is no way to predict if he'll keep getting worse and it probably does depend on what his condition is. If you're an employer, it's understandable if you're worried about him geting hurt on the job but you might want to ask him about it...or see if anyone other employee is closer with him that coudl ask about it; then see if there's anything you can do to help him out a bit. Do you give your employees breaks or lunch breaks? If so, maybe he can break them down into smaller time frames to take shorter breaks more often. Or maybe there are other things that can help him do his job. I know from my own experience, I keep on going to work even though I have lupus flares, and a bunch of spine & nerve problems, and walking problems going on. I simply cannot afford not to work or I won't be able to live. SO I just have to go every day and do the best I can, even though often I am in alot of pain. Plus working keeps the mind occupied..I cant imagine how I would feel if I couldnt go to work anymore. I am lucky, so far, that my department managers seem pretty helpful to me and do offer to help me in any way they can (even though I said I dont want anything special b/c I'm just stubborn). However I do know that my work does suffer sometimes because I'm not as quick or my mind is foggy from flares or pain and I still do worry that it will come around & bite me at some point. I think the best thing is to try to be somewhat sympathetic to whatever he's going through and try to find some ways help him out, if he'll accept it. Either way, it may be a bit sensitive task.