Back Pain: Common, but Hard to Handle
In our experience, chronic back pain is the number one claim for disability. It’s also the claim most often denied, so it’s crucial to get the right advice.
Chronic back pain is common; it can be disabling or debilitating. Sometimes people have had multiple surgeries or are taking a lot of pain medication in order to deal with their conditions. The pain itself can be distracting and can affect your mood or your state of mind. The narcotic medications prescribed can affect your memory, your concentration, and your ability to sustain tasks or activities.
Back and neck pain problems often affect people’s ability to walk, stand, bend, crouch, kneel, lift, or even sit for any length of time. The issues may affect your cervical spine (your neck), your thoracic spine (the middle of your back), or, most commonly, your lumbar spine (low back) area.
What Social Security Wants to See to Consider Back Pain a Disability
The Social Security Administration is very specific regarding back and other spinal conditions. Generally, to prove a disability based on back pain, you must have sophisticated scans, such as MRIs and CT scans, that show an objective reason for your pain. At times, a neck or cervical problem can affect the use of your arms and hands, and a lumbar or low back problem could affect the use of your legs.
These are the kinds of findings that Social Security is most interested in in regards to an effective disability claim. Generally, if the condition in your spine is causing compression of your spinal nerves (referred to as radiculopathy), it will also cause numbness or tingling in your extremities.
If you are under the age of 50 and suffer from chronic spinal pain, there is a very good chance that the Social Security Administration will acknowledge your inability to perform certain kinds of work, but deny a disability claim. They will state that there is other, lighter-duty work available that you could do. This is where your age, education, and work background come into play. We discuss this in What Factors Affect My Disability Claim?
Contact Experienced Florida Disability Benefits Attorneys
If you need assistance seeking disability benefits for chronic back pain, we can help. Learn more about the representation we provide by contacting us online or calling (352) 376-1200 to schedule your free initial consultation.