Can walk but not without pain — Scope | Disability forum
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Can walk but not without pain

66Mustang
66Mustang Community member Posts: 13,368 Disability Gamechanger
I have a family member who has a very poorly knee which badly affects their mobility. The doctor won’t let them have a “new knee” because they are too young. 

We are just wondering whether it would be worth them applying for PIP, with the hope of qualifying for the mobility component - even the lower rate, or would they be considered too mobile to be eligible?

They can walk longer distances with a stick. They can occasionally walk up to around 1/3 mile, but with great difficulty, and have to spend several days recovering afterwards. The stairs causes great pain. Any amount of walking causes pain - in fact the knee hurts even when sitting still and sometimes they have trouble standing. It affects their ability to do things around the house. The pain cannot be understated - sometimes they are in tears with the pain. However at the end of the day they still battle on and are able to function, albeit at a slower pace than most people.

To put it simply, due to their pride and tenacity they can indeed walk more than the specified 200 metres, but, they cannot walk even 1 metre without huge amounts of pain.

Is this pain at all relevant, or, is the decision simply based on whether or not you can walk, regardless of how difficult this is?

Many thanks.

Comments

  • janer1967
    janer1967 Community member Posts: 21,964 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @66Mustang

    You need to probably take into account if they can do it reliably , safely and repeatedly 

    Eg if they walk ars they safe and also what affect it has does it mean they then cant walk again for rest of the day or for few hours 

    Pain is sort of taken into account but they would presume pain killers would help 

    Being able to do stairs isnt included in PIP descriptors daft as it may sound 

    Has the gp suggested any other treatment like injections   what is the cause of the pain has it been diagnosed 

    Also alternative treatment like massage , physio   acupuncture and do on may be an option 
  • calcotti
    calcotti Community member Posts: 10,010 Disability Gamechanger
    66Mustang said:  They can occasionally walk up to around 1/3 mile, but with great difficulty, and have to spend several days recovering afterwards. 
    PIP is based on the majority of days so if most days they cannot leave the house then that is what counts.
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • woodbine
    woodbine Community member Posts: 11,522 Disability Gamechanger
    It's always worth claiming if they think it's the right thing to do, difficult to comment on if we think they would be successful.
    Link to the descriptors guide worth a read.

    https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-points-system
    2024 The year of the general election...the time for change is coming 💡

  • 66Mustang
    66Mustang Community member Posts: 13,368 Disability Gamechanger
    edited April 2021
    Thank you everyone for the tips.

    @janer1967 They have been having steroid injections in the knee for some time now. Also very powerful painkillers (tramadol) prescribed but the help this gives is limited

    I don’t know if they have had a proper diagnosis or not - I will have to ask them

    I will suggest to them the other things you mentioned as they are open to anything at this point.

    Thanks again :)
  • 66Mustang
    66Mustang Community member Posts: 13,368 Disability Gamechanger
    Thank you, Mike

    Appreciate all the replies, they are going to put in a claim and see what happens. 

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