Qualifying for Disability Benefits for Low Back Pain: What You Need to Know
Low back pain can be a disabling condition affecting more than 26% of workers in the United States. If chronic back pain prevents you from engaging in everyday activities, including working, you may qualify for low back pain disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.
Qualifying for low back pain disability is not an easy task. Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income, the two disability programs managed by the Social Security Administration, do not provide benefits for short-term or temporary medical conditions. You need a diagnosis and medical records to prove the presence of the condition and how it prevents you from performing customary activities associated with work.
At the GCC Law Firm, we focus our practice on fighting for the rights of people who require financial support due to a life-altering physical or mental health condition that prevents them from continuing to work. We offer solutions by helping our clients navigate the complex and frustrating process required to qualify for the SSDI and SSI disability programs.
An Explanation Of The Disability Benefit Programs For Low Back Pain
If you meet the eligibility guidelines, SSDI and SSI provide monthly payments and access to medical benefits. SSI is a needs-based program for individuals with limited income and resources. For example, individuals are limited to possessing resources with a total value of no more than $2,000. Resources for couples cannot exceed $3,000.
Eligibility for the SSDI program depends on your work history. It must be long enough in duration, with some of the work being recent enough, to meet eligibility requirements. You must be disabled to qualify for SSI and SSDI benefits. However, a person aged 65 or older who meets the income and resource limitations may still qualify for SSI benefits, even without a disability.
A disability for purposes of SSDI or SSI eligibility is the inability to do any substantial and gainful work activity because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment. The impairment, or a combination of them, must be expected to result in death or has lasted or is expected to last for at least 12 months.
Qualifying For Low Back Pain Disability Benefits
To qualify for benefits through Social Security for back pain requires more than the presence of pain. The low back pain disability attorneys at GCC Law understand that benefit claims must be supported by medical and other evidence proving the condition limits your ability to perform work activities.
- Step One: Are you working at a substantial gainful activity (SGA)? Whether you are capable of performing significant physical or mental work activities for wages or profit is determined using a gross monthly earnings amount set annually by the Social Security Administration. If you equal or exceed the SGA limit, your claim will be denied. However, if you are not working or earn less than the SGA, the process continues to the next step.
- Step Two: Do you have a severe impairment? A severe impairment significantly limits your physical or mental ability to do work activities, such as lifting, carrying, standing, and walking. A finding that you do not have a severe impairment results in a denial of benefits. A severe impairment allows the process to continue to the next step.
- Step Three: Do you have an impairment that meets or equals a listing? Social Security lists medical conditions and the criteria for each of them that, if met, allow for a disability determination. Meeting the criteria of a listing or being medically equivalent to listing is sufficient for a disability determination, but the process continues if you do not meet the criteria of a listed condition.
- Step Four: Does the condition allow you to do work you did before? If limitations of your medical condition do not prevent you from doing work you did in the past, your claim will be denied. If it does, then the evaluation continues to step five.
- Step Five: Can you adjust to doing other types of work available in the national or regional economy? If the limitations imposed by your medical condition do not allow you to make the adjustment to doing other work, you have a disability.
If you can meet or equal a listing, it shortens the time for approval of your claim and the start of disability benefits.
Low Back Pain And The Listing Of Impairments
A diagnosis from a physician that you have lower back pain is not enough to qualify for disability benefits through SSDI or SSI. Almost everyone has, at one time or another, experienced back pain that goes away on its own or with treatment.
Impairments of the musculoskeletal system, Section 1.00 of the listings, include the following disorders affecting the lower back:
- Section 1.15 Disorders of the skeletal spine compromising nerve roots.
- Section 1.16 Lumbar spinal stenosis
- Section 1.19 Pathologic fracture due to any cause
Proving that debilitating back pain meets or is equivalent to these or other listed impairments requires medical records that document the condition, including the following:
- Notes of physical examinations performed by your doctors.
- X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans.
- Nerve conduction test or EMG results.
Statements from nonmedical sources, such as coworkers or friends, can be useful to identify functional limitations caused by your medical condition. Functional limitations may include an inability to stand or sit for extended periods, difficulty walking, and other activities that you cannot do because of your back condition.
Get Help With Your Disability Claim From Our Outstanding Disability Attorneys
Qualifying for low back pain disability benefits through the Social Security Administration programs can be challenging, so get the help you need from the experienced low back pain disability attorneys at the GCC Law Firm. Even if you have filed for benefits and were denied, we can help by appealing the unfavorable outcome.
Find out what we can do to make a difference for you by contacting GCC Law for a complimentary initial consultation.
Call Our Illinois Low Back Pain Disability Lawyers Today
At GCC Law Firm, our Illinois Low Back Pain disability attorneys provide personalized, solutions-driven legal advocacy for clients. If your SSDI or SSI claim has been denied in Illinois, we can help. Contact us to schedule a free and completely confidential initial consultation, please contact our law firm today.
Call (479) 340-0002.