Chronic Pain and Social Security Disability

Pain is the most common reason people seek medical care and frequently drives the need for Social Security disability benefits. An Ocala disability attorney can help you determine whether your pain is severe enough to qualify you for disability benefits.

Pain can be disabling when it is constant or severe. But pain is a subjective symptom. Only the patient can measure their own pain. It doesn’t show up on medical tests and this makes it difficult to document.

Measuring pain

How do Social Security administrators approach measuring pain and whether it prevents a claimant from working? The agency first explores whether an underlying medically determinable impairment may be reasonably causing the pain. If so, you will need to describe the intensity and persistence of your pain and how it limits your ability to work.

Claimants are often asked to describe these symptoms in detail. As a claimant, your credibility is essential to the disability determination. Therefore, your description of your pain must be consistent with the medical evidence in your case. Your Ocala disability attorney will encourage you to give concrete examples of how your pain affects you in everyday life, without exaggerating or minimizing the intensity of your symptoms.

Medically determinable impairment

Even though pain is not measured directly, clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques should reveal its possible cause to be a specific anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormality.

You can’t simply claim to be suffering from chronic pain. Proving your disability requires more evidence. Even though pain itself is disabling, to demonstrate eligibility for the Social Security disability program you will need to show an underlying medically determinable physical or mental impairment.

For complete information on how the regulations impact your particular case, schedule a consultation with an Ocala disability attorney at CJ Henry Law Firm, PLLC. Call today at 352-304-5300.