There are very few things that can disrupt a life more than becoming disabled. Though you may still be the same person you were before the onset of your disability, things that may have been easy to do before may now seem like monumental tasks, if not downright impossible, to complete. As a result, you may be treated differently by others, and the perceived feelings of incompetence may take a toll on your mental health as well.

Though your worth doesn’t change with a disability, our founder, Dr. Grant Lisetor, knows how debilitating living with a disability can be. Fortunately, there are ways for chiropractic to help, and perhaps even heal, some disabilities.

Common Causes of Disability

The term “disabled” is commonly associated with someone in a wheelchair or perhaps someone with a sensory deficit, such as blindness or deafness. However, disability can take on many forms, and the most common types are often invisible to the naked eye.

Arthritis

Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints and surrounding tissues, and it is most commonly occurs in the hands, knees, and back. This inflammation occurs when the cartilage between joints breaks down, sometimes due to injury or repetitive motion, but it can also happen with age or a nutrient deficiency. Though arthritis is usually associated with old age, children and young adults can also suffer from it.

Due to the nature of arthritis, it can kill productivity instantly. Most jobs require repetition, whether it’s pulling levers at a factory or typing on a keyboard. Arthritis can make these tasks nearly impossible to do for even a few minutes, let alone eight hours a day. Despite this grievous hit to financial stability and productivity, it can be extremely difficult to get disability for arthritis, with mountains of paperwork required that you may not even be able to complete with your condition.

Back Pain

Though vague, there are many different conditions that can cause back pain that will qualify you for disability. Herniated discs, nerve root compression, spondylitis, and scoliosis are only a few among a whole list of conditions on the Social Security Administration’s list. As a result, back pain has one of the highest indirect costs of any orthopedic condition, estimated at around 19.8 billion dollars per year.

Though back pain can be disabling and agonizing for people who suffer from it, the SSA makes it difficult to obtain benefits. You must be diagnosed with a medical condition that lasts at least a year in order to be eligible, and you must show how it affects your capacity to work and perform regular activities. Again, mountains of paperwork that a disability can make all the more agonizing to complete.

If you’re suffering from either of these disabilities and are feeling stuck, contact us at Greater Life Chiropractic in Charlotte. There is clinical evidence to support chiropractic’s benefits for disabling conditions such as arthritis, even outside of the back. Consider becoming a practice member, and we’ll do our best to get you back on your feet.

Sources

Hanns, Laura, et al. “Depressive Symptoms, Pain and Disability for Adolescent Patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: Results from the Childhood Arthritis Prospective Study.” Rheumatology 57.8 (2018): 1381-1389. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/key088

Romanowski, Mateusz Wojciech, et al. “Manual Therapy (Postisometric Relaxation and joint mobilization) in Knee Pain and Function Experienced by Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Clinical Pilot Study.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2020 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/1452579

Sebaaly, Amer, et al. “Etiology, Evaluation, and Treatment of Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.” Asian Spine Journal 12.3 (2018): 574. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6002183/