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All Just just about ClaimsLumbar Pain and the System for the disabled
by:
Tim Moore
One of the most normally listed impairments on SSA applications for the disabled is lower body part
pain. Why is this condition so "common"? Well, it's just due to the way humans are built. The lower back area (particularly L5-S1) is the point at which we bend to pick up things and we often use it as a pivot to lift heavy objects. Unfortunately, because lower back problems are seen so often on disablement applications, they tend to be viewed by examiners in a dismissive way. The typical examiner wish look at a app that lists back issues as the only allegation and wish think to themselves, "Lumbar pain, is that all?". From day one, once
the file lands on the examiner's desk, the examiner wish have it in his or her mind that the case wish ultimately be denied.
Having been an examiner, I am sad to say that this is how the evaulation process normally begins for such cases. And it sucks. Extreme body part
pain (I don't mean just "pain". I mean pain of the kind that prevents you from even as being able to get off the bed and onto your feet to go to the bathroom without breaking into a sweat and wanting to scream) is thing
that one cannot imagine...unless one has full-fledged it firsthand. And without having full-fledged it personally, it is difficult for others to actually understand how body part
discomfort can be so severe that it impairs a person's ability to work.
Unfortunately, most DDS examiners--the individuals who slap decisions on ssd and ssi claims--are comparatively
young folk who have Ne'er
full-fledged this kind of pain. Typically, probably due to comparatively
low pay, most examiners in a DDS unit wish be in their early to late twenties. Yes, you do see folk in their thirties, forties, even as fifties at a DDS, but most DDS units wish be composed of younger workers.
I have no doubt in my mind that this fact alone has a bearing on the decisions rendered for several claims. I mean, how can a person understand how debilitative or painful a situation can be if they've ne'er
full-fledged at least thing
similar? I'm sure they can't. And with so galore examiners happiness
to a relativly young age-set, this "builds" a certain insensitiveness into the process.
I'll give you an example of what I mean. Just just about eight years ago, I abraded my back and was out for 3 straight days. How did this happen? I just got out of the shower. I must have stepped the wrong way as I got out, because as I was closing my front door I could feel pain tingling down my right leg. Thirty minutes later at a christmas eve party I was on the floor and unable to move. I spent the next three days in bed, on cyclobenzaprine and pain killers, unable to come more at all. Acquiring up to go to the bathroom felt like a spike was being beat
into my tailbone.
How makes this personal bit of information relate? Once
I got back to the job (DDS), I tended to look at back cases a lot otherwise
than before. Even as although my condition had been comparatively
short-lived, the memory of the awful pain I felt in those three days ready-made me more acutely aware of how debilitative back pain can be. And how restrictive and limiting a back condition can be for folk who have chronic and in progress back pain.
Now, why am I writing this particular post today? Well, once once again I find myself in bed, on percocet and flexeril, after just crouched (this was a crouch, not a stoop, which you would-be think would-be be safer) down to do something. As before, neither the muscle relaxant nor the pain pill seem to do the trick (though I wonder how bad it would-be feel without these meds) and I expect the situation to last for probably 2-3 days.
Am I disabled? No, of course, not. The likeliness is that erstwhile in the next 24-48 hours I wish be able to walk again, with several residual pain. But...what if I had a condition that caused this level of discomfort, yet was chronic and ongoing? Frankly, I don't cognize what I would-be do. I surely wouldn't be able to work. And feeling that kind of pain for so long would-be doubtless do me depressed and anxious (a lot of claimants with back problems besides cite depression as an impairment). And, for me, knowing what I cognize just about the disablement system, the situation would-be seem even as more depressing because "pain" is given really little consideration in the evaulation process.
What do you do if your major allegation on a claim is back-related? Here's a tip that actually applies to all cases. Seek regular medical care and try to do sure your doctor fully documents all the limitations you have as a result of your condition. Medical record documentation on a federal disablement claim is basically the gas that powers the engine.
Just just about the author:
The author of this article is Timothy Moore, who, in addition to being a former food stamp caseworker, health care
social worker and AFDC caseworker, is a former disablement claims examiner. He publishes information at Social Safety Disablement Tips and Secrets which features a helpful and informative Social Safety Disablement faq
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