Hutchens
Hutchens v. Commissioner of Social Security
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Louise M. Hutchens (“Hutchens”) appeals the district court’s decision affirming the denial of her claim for Social Security Disability Insurance (“SSDI”) benefits. Because the ALJ’s residual functional capacity (“RFC”) determination was inconsistent with his finding that Hutchens suffered from a severe knee impairment, we find the ALJ’s decision unsupported by substantial evidence and thus reverse and remand for reconsideration of Hutchens’s SSDI claim.
The ALJ found that Hutchens suffered from three severe impairments: (1) overuse syndrome of the upper extremities (here, tendonitis and chondritis of the hands and elbows); (2) chondromalacia (i.e., tissue degeneration underneath the kneecap); and (3) depression. Although the ALJ accounted for Hutchens’s overuse syndrome in determining her RFC, 1 the ALJ did not account for Hutchens’s chondromalacia, finding that, despite her and her doctor’s claims that this condition caused her substantial knee pain, Hutch-ens could spend “unrestricted time sitting, standing, and walking during a normal *790 workday [and had no ] postural limitations with bending, stooping, or crouching.” As a result, the ALJ found that Hutchens…