Steven Johnson spent 19 years as a minimum wage laborer for a Los Angeles moving company, lifting heavy furniture and suffering three hernias along the way.
For the last decade, the 61-year-old has worked as a waiter and as a cook in fast-paced kitchens.
Now arthritis has swollen his knees. "I tried to tough it out, icing myself down," Johnson said. But he's had to cut back to two days a week.