Social Security Benefits and Chronic Pain
Suffering from chronic pain is a horrible experience that may limit your body functions and movements. It may also affect your work performance and make you unable to complete regular workplace duties.
That’s why you deserve to receive Social Security disability insurance (SSDI) for financial support.
However, it’s not easy to claim disability benefits for chronic pain because pain is subjective in many cases. You have to provide sufficient evidence to prove chronic pain and its severity.
Now, you may ask how you can prove chronic pain for an SSDI application.
There is a way to do it, keeping these notes as a guide.
What Is Chronic Pain
Pain is chronic if it persists for three months or more and on the same body part. For instance, a backache becomes chronic if you’ve been suffering from it for around five months.
Moreover, chronic pain comes with severe discomforts that affect your movements. For example, the unbearable pain can cause difficulties in walking, standing uprights, and sitting for a long time.
Chronic pain can make you unable to handle a full-time job. A good example is when you sustain carpal tunnel syndrome because of prolonged computer tasks. The chronic pain in your hands and wrists may make it difficult to perform your computer job.
That’s why you deserve to receive disability benefits, especially when you have to reduce your working hours because of chronic pain.
Proving Chronic Pain for Disability Benefits Application
Chronic pain is challenging to prove because of its subjective nature. You may experience severe pain, but test results don’t show physical problems like inflammation.
The thing is that the Social Security Administration (SSA) won’t approve your application without sufficient proof.
So, follow these points to help you:
1. Consult a Professional Social Security Attorney
A Social Security benefits attorney in Glendale will help you prove chronic pain for your disability benefits application. They will guide you in collecting evidence and compiling the necessary documents to support your claim.
Moreover, they will represent you through the necessary procedures to ensure fruitful outcomes.
2. Gather Medical Evidence
Make sure you attach enough medical documents to your disability benefits application, like:
- Medical diagnosis
- Medical report
- Laboratory test results
- Treatment bills and medication receipts
Although it’s difficult to prove some chronic pain through test results, a physician can still explain your situation in the medical report. Some evidence proving your treatment, like medication receipts, may also verify you are indeed suffering from chronic pain.
Moreover, ask your doctor to fill out a Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) form. This form will detail the limitations you experience because of chronic pain and clarify the tasks you can safely complete.
For example, the RFC form may prove you can only sit up to five hours a day. It shows that you cannot handle a full-time job, so the SSA should provide enough financial support to fill your lost income.
3. Prepare for the Disability Evaluation
You need to pass the disability evaluation during the application process. Here you will meet with an SSA staff who will personally check your disability. They will want to ensure you experience physical limitations because of chronic pain.
For example, if you claim you experience chronic leg pain, they will evaluate your walk. So if you can walk straight for a few minutes, the SSA staff may doubt your claim and deny your application.
4. Collect Witness Statements
Witness testimonies may support your application too.
For example, you may ask your coworkers for some statements that prove your work limitations. They may also testify that they see you suffer from excruciating pain now and then.
Call a Glendale Social Security Benefits Lawyer to Prove Chronic Pain
Proving chronic pain and its severity for SSDI application is challenging. Fortunately, some crucial steps can help support your claim.
And consulting a Social Security benefits attorney in Glendale is an essential step that will help you get the SSA approval.