Physical Restrictions

By: Marc Disorbio, EdD

Many people who sustain significant injuries and have chronic pain conditions find themselves unable to work in their desired field. Physical restrictions often preclude them from doing the kind of work they were trained to do in the past. This leaves many individuals with chronic pain in a compromised financial and vocational position. You're not alone if this is the situation you find yourself in. Part of coping with chronic pain may mean you have to re-craft your life. Developing a solid vocational retraining program with a new career in mind can help you feel more hopeful and more productive.

Identifying Resources

There are numerous resources available in most states regarding vocational retraining. For example, social security disability has a benefit for vocational rehabilitation; some automobile insurance policies have benefits for vocational retraining for individuals injured in car accidents; and most states have vocational rehabilitation agencies. Most of these programs are not designed to get you a job, per se, but to help you develop a new career.

One of the first steps to developing a plan is identifying what resources and benefits may be available to you. The next step is to obtain your physical and psychological restrictions from your physician and psychologist so that you can begin to apply to various programs to see if you qualify. After you've been approved for a particular vocational retraining program, then you can begin working with a rehabilitation counselor. Counselors can help you identify special interests that you have, which may lead you in a particular vocational direction, as well as take into consideration your physical and mental restrictions for any particular career. It's important for you to include your particular vocational interests in your decision making as well as the marketability of the career for the future. Vocational retraining programs typically last six months to two years, and include other benefits, such as using program computers, resume writing assistance, and help with interviewing skills.

Benefits of Vocational Training

In my experience, when people don't have vocational retraining, it's very difficult to move on and close their cases because they feel overwhelmed. By the time they get to this point, they've often lost their homes, declared bankruptcy, and have family problems. Participating in a vocational retraining program can help you:

Feel more hopeful about your future
Develop a feeling and a reality that you are becoming more productive
Re-craft your life and perhaps even improve your financial picture
Mitigate stress because you're no longer financially threatened
Improve your self-esteem
Reduce the level of family conflict because of the struggles and suffering that occurs when you are financially and vocationally impaired

It's Never Too Late

Within the first six months after an individual has been out of work and has not returned to work, the percentage of return to work goes down dramatically, but that doesn't mean it's too late to start re-crafting your life. Many people that I work with are out of work two to three years. Competent pain management psychologists can help patients who have been out of work longer than six months and up to several years develop hope and be successful in retraining.

You may be stuck in a perception that you're limited intellectually or from a training or educational standpoint. You may not realize that you have an interest that could lead to a career or that there's a particular career out there that you never would have known about. You can begin to get your arms around this interest or career by just going through this process. For example, I've had several patients who used to work construction jobs and loved being outside. They couldn't imagine sitting at a desk all day. A few went through a nine-month educational program in the area of water assessment. They go out and collect water samples and bring them back to the lab, analyze them, and write up a report, so they get time out of the office.

Some programs are designed to help people get associates' degrees. One patient of mine initially completed an associate's degree to become a certified computer programmer, and then went on to get her bachelor's degree and graduated as the valedictorian of the college. When we began the process, her perception was, "I can't go to college, I'm not smart enough." Vocational retraining can help you get out of the box of your own perceptions of your limitations.

Resources

To obtain information regarding availability of benefits, contact your state vocational rehabilitation agency, your insurance carrier, and your social security disability agency.

Department of Veterans Affairs
Social Security resources

State Programs: