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A lifetime of hard work takes its toll on your body. So can a long-term syndrome that gradually worsens. Or an injury.
Problems with your back, neck, legs, shoulders, joints, pain, flexibility and mobility can force you out of the workforce and into financial stress.
You can reduce the pressure with Social Security Disability benefits for musculoskeletal disorders.
In fact, workers with musculoskeletal diseases, injuries and disorders have been the largest group of people receiving disability benefits in recent years.
Over a third of all Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipients had musculoskeletal problems in 2023—over 2.5 million people.
Benefits including monthly checks and Medicare coverage let you take care of yourself and live with less stress.
Applying for benefits, however, can be a major chore. You can easily get denied and have to go through more steps. You must prove you cannot work because of your musculoskeletal condition.
Get support for your disability case in Rochester, Elmira, Binghamton and Oneonta from the Upstate New York disability attorneys at Lachman & Gorton.
We’ve helped thousands of people, including many with musculoskeletal disorders, for decades. We help when you’ve applied for benefits, but they turned you down.
You only pay an attorney fee for your lawyer to work on your case if you win benefits.
Social Security lists several musculoskeletal conditions that can qualify for disability benefits.
It’s a big category of impairments that includes many different health issues:
This isn’t a complete list. Many other diseases of bones, tendons, cartilage and joints can qualify. And you can qualify for disability benefits with more than one diagnosis, such as a musculoskeletal disorder along with other ailments.
Social Security lists the kinds of medical evidence you can provide to prove your musculoskeletal disease is severe enough to prohibit you from working.
These are the kinds of information and documents you need for your musculoskeletal disability claim:
You can’t just report on your pain, stiffness and immobility yourself.
Social Security says, “We will not accept a report of your statements about your symptoms and limitations in place of the medical source’s report of objective clinical findings.”
They want what they call “objective medical evidence” from a medical source, meaning someone other than yourself with medical knowledge who has examined and observed how your condition affects you.
You can add statements from other people, “nonmedical sources,” who know you personally and have seen how your musculoskeletal disease alters your life. A Lachman & Gorton disability attorney can make sure they provide the kind of information useful to Social Security.
You don’t have to wonder about your case, your chances of winning benefits, and how to get the medical evidence you need.
You can talk to the experienced Upstate New York disability lawyers at Lachman & Gorton for an assessment of your disability claim for a musculoskeletal disorder at no cost to you.
Get your FREE disability claim consultation from the lawyers at Lachman & Gorton.
Nothing’s good about losing work and income because you’re limited by your physical health.
When it comes to Social Security Disability benefits, there is a little good news: musculoskeletal disorders can be clearcut cases for benefits and financial relief.
Unlike some medical conditions that involve pain, fatigue, mental health or other symptoms that people cannot physically see, often you can document and confirm musculoskeletal impairment with hard evidence.
That could be one reason why it’s the largest category of impairment approved for disability benefits.
At the core of all disability benefits claims is an idea called your “residual functional capacity,” or RFC. Your RFC is how much you can do despite your health problems.
In measuring your RFC, Social Security looks at how you do basic activities, like sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, and maintaining focus. Musculoskeletal diseases often strike directly at these functions.
You get your doctor to assess your RFC. At Lachman & Gorton, our disability attorney team has a form for doctors to use and directions for them to follow so they document your functional limitations in the very particular way that Social Security wants to see.
This isn’t a process all doctors know, or that Social Security itself helps you do so you can best make your case for benefits.
It’s a reason why it’s valuable to work with a highly skilled Social Security Disability lawyer from Lachman & Gorton who can manage the process for you.
You may have lost balance, stamina and strength, but we help you stabilize your life, so you still have independence, dignity and peace.