Using Chronic Pain to Prove a Disability Case

Statesboro Social Security attorney
Chronic pain (pain of an intense intermittent or constant nature) is common for many disability clients and may be disabling. However, your Statesboro Social Security attorney knows that since there is no method of measuring pain with scientific instruments, disability cases based on pain are challenging. The determination of disability in a pain case often comes down to the Social Security Administration (SSA) decision maker’s assessment of the claimant’s credibility when describing her or his pain.

If your disability stems from chronic pain, your case will be evaluated by the SSA to determine to what extent you are prevented from working by your pain. You will be asked the following questions:

  • Is there objective evidence that shows you possess a “medically determinable impairment” that may be reasonably expected to cause your chronic pain?
  • If so, how is your ability to perform general work activities limited by your pain, and how persistent and intense is your pain?

Your credibility is crucial during the assessment of your pain’s persistence and intensity. The SSA will examine the medical evidence to see if it is consistent with your description of the pain when attempting to determine your credibility.

Objective Evidence

Your Statesboro Social Security attorney will advise you that your pain must be of a type that can potentially result from a medically determinable impairment, which is a physiological, anatomical, or psychological abnormality that may be proven with objective evidence (evidence which consists of clinical and diagnostic techniques that are medically acceptable).

Your Statesboro Social Security attorney knows that you will be unable to prove your disability if you cannot demonstrate objective evidence of your pain. It does not matter how authentic your complaint of pain is; if you are unable to produce laboratory findings and medical signs that demonstrate the reality of medically determinable mental or physical impairments that reasonably could be expected to be the cause of your pain, the SSA will see no basis for awarding disability.

If you have questions concerning your disability case please contact an experienced, competent and knowledgeable Statesboro Social Security attorney at the law firm of Durden, Rice & Barfield, P.C. by calling (888) 705-8672.