In addition to pain caused by an injury to the musculoskeletal system or degeneration in the spine and joints, are complex pain disorders. Although unrelated to an injury or based on a measurable detail like a ruptured disc or degenerated knee joint, these impairments are often harder to diagnose and treat. Severe, usually unrelenting, pain is the most apparent effect of such impairments (for instance, fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), neuropathic pain, and chronic pelvic pain). But, with complex pain disorders, there is also a very high correlation between chronic severe pain and a mental impairment such as depression or anxiety; between 30 and 40% of people who have chronic pain have thought of suicide. Treatment usually consists of medications and various types of therapy, including pain management and mental health treatment; surgery is not usually recommended. And, sometimes, the treatments themselves, which can include opioid pain medications, cause additional side effects that further limit a person’s ability to function.

Most chronic pain disorders do not affect a person the same way every day; it is very typical for a person with this kind of medical condition to have “good days and bad days,” days where functioning does not seem very affected at all, but other days where it’s a struggle even to do basic daily activities.

A disabling condition does not need to be disabling every day to support a finding that a person is unable to work because being able to work means doing it daily, week after week, on a regular and continuous basis.