Functional Capacity Evaluation Question

April 24, 2010

I have been a member of this group for a quite a while but don't usually post. I

do enjoy reading your post and it has answered some of my questions. I have

another question though.

I recently took a Functional Capacity Evaluation per my doctors direction. My MD

seems to think I may be totally disabled due to the severity of my DDD and

several nerves being pinched in my thoratic and lumbar areas.

My Evaluation went ok until I started getting a lot more pain and very tired. My

blood pressure was running 168/110. When I had to do the deep squat portion I

was barely able to get the 5lb box off the floor. I was asked to do 10 more

reps. I tried and nearly fell over on the second one at which point I pretty

much gave up. I also had a lot of trouble with balance and stair climbing. My

results came back as if I didn't put forth enough effort with a rating of poor.

I was so sore and miserable for two days after I had to use my cain to walk.

Does anyone know why this test would come back so poorly and what that means? I

found in the journal of occupational rehablilitaion that people with cronic back

pain do come back with a poor effort rating a lot more than people without

cronic back pain.

Any input for this would be greatly appreciated.

I have been so depressed over these results I don't know which end is up. I

really tried as hard as I could but I did fear I was going to fall a few times

and my pain level was getting unbearable for me as well as my fatigue. What

importance is placed on this test when one is trying to get disability and is

there any other type of test that may work better?

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