Social Security Disability For Ankle Injuries

    Ankle problems, usually injuries, can lead to a finding that you're eligible for Social Security disability benefits. I say "can" because there's no guarantee.

    Let me give an example of an ankle injury that might get a person on Social Security disability benefits. The claimant is a 56 year old woman who broke her left ankle 10 years ago. She worked as a cashier in a grocery store. She had surgery for the fracture shortly after the original injury. After the surgery healed, she continued to have some pain but not enough to keep her from working but the pain got worse as she aged. She went back to the doctor who had treated her for the original injury. He had an x-ray done which showed a good deal of arthritis in the ankle. Old fractures in many joints eventually lead to arthritis. The doctor tells her that he could do a partial ankle replacement or that he could fuse the ankle but didn't seem to be recommending either option too much. She decides to live with the problem at least for now but she can't work with it. 

    Let me give another example of an ankle injury that probably won't get a person on Social Security disability benefits. The claimant is a 34 year old man who suffers a torn Achilles tendon. He worked as a kitchen helper. He has surgery for the torn Achilles tendon. Afterwards he has physical therapy and is told that it will be many months before he can return to his old job. Why is this claimant not so likely to win? One reason is that there is likely to be recovery from the injury in less than 12 months. You must have been or be predicted to be disabled for at least 12 months to get anything from Social Security disability benefits. A second reason is that the claimant is relatively young. Even if there's a poor recovery from the Achilles tear, Social Security is likely to say that there's some other kind of work the person can do that doesn't require so much standing. You hope in this kind of case that the person was injured on the job so they cane at least receive workers compensation.

    I've given two examples but your case is probably different. Give us a call. We'll be happy to talk with you

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347