If you are experiencing numbness or tingling in your hands the first step you should take is contacting your doctor. Depending upon the severity you may want to consider going to the emergency room. Hand numbness could be a result of a very serious medical condition like carpal tunnel syndrome or uncontrolled diabetes. There are many reasons you may be experiencing numbness in one or both of your hands. The prudent thing to do would be to consult your physician.
If your doctor determines your hand numbness is due to a medical condition, your next step would be to consider how this would impact your daily life. Will the numbness interfere with your ability to work? Is the numbness likely to go away within a few days or is this a long-term condition? If your answer is yes to any of those questions you should consider applying for social security disability benefits.
Disability benefits are available for people who are unable to work due to a medical condition. If the numbness in your hands is making it difficult if not near impossible to hold onto objects, manipulate items, or even type, then disability might be the right program for you.
Proving you are disabled is not an easy task. It requires medical evidence documenting functional limitations which would preclude not only your past work but also an ability to perform any other types of work. The issue with your hands is that most jobs require good use of both hands. If the numbness you are experiencing would cause difficulty with you performing repetitive tasks, this may be the right program for you.
In determining eligibility social security will determine your residual functional capacity, or RFC. Your RFC is the most you can do physically and or mentally despite the limitations you experience from your medical conditions. For example, say you are suffering from uncontrolled diabetes which is causing neuropathy in your hands. Your symptoms of neuropathy include numbness and weakness. Those symptoms affect your ability to grip items, tie your shoes, button your shirts, or even use a keyboard. Those limitations in your hands will be used to determine whether you are able to perform the functions required of your prior jobs. If your prior work was as a receptionist which requires constant typing, it will more than likely be determined you are unable to return to work as a receptionist. SSA will then determine if there are other jobs that you could perform with your hand limitations. As mentioned above, most jobs require the good use of both of your hands. In most cases, if you cannot use your hands effectively you will be found unemployable. This would result in a finding of disability.
In conclusion, if you are experiencing hand numbness, first seek treatment from a medical provider. If your condition is severe, then your second step would be to contact a local social security disability attorney for help applying for the disability program.
