Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD)

Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine can cause a person to endure significant pain that is often unresponsive to prescription medication, physical therapy, surgical intervention, and regular injection treatments. Because degenerative disc disease directly affects a person’s ability to sit, stand, and walk and often affects those who have previously occupied physically demanding occupations, it has long been one of the most common disabling impairments among Social Security disability claimants. If your degenerative disc disease prevents you from performing even sedentary work on a full-time basis, you may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits. If your back pain is so severe as to prevent you from sitting in a desk chair eight hours per day, five days per week, fifty weeks per year and similarly limits your ability to stand and walk, there are simply no jobs of significant number in the national economy which you will be able to perform on a full-time basis.

In order to prove that your degenerative disc disease is disabling, it is often necessary to have a supportive statement from your treating physician. This is particularly so in cases where MRI scans and x-rays are not dispositive. As with all impairments, it is absolutely critical that claimants seeking disability benefits primarily based on the functional limitations they have sustained as a result of their back pain or degenerative disc disease fully comply with the course of treatment prescribed by their treating physicians, including but not limited to taking all prescribed medication, attending all scheduled visits, and consistently attending physical therapy.

Contact Us

If you are unable to work due to back pain caused by degenerative disc disease, please contact our office to speak with an attorney about your claim for disability benefits.