I was injured in 9/11/23 and was back on full duty work 12/16/23 I was diagnosed with a subluxation of the rib and was treated by a chiropractor/PT. I breezed through PT after a few months and honestly felt better but not fixed. As soon as I went from “clerical work only” to full time warehouse work the pain was immediately noticeable. My back and shoulders especially hurt incredibly after 1-2 hours. I had a final follow up in which I made this known I was still in pain.

My chiropractor said “between just us, this is something you’ve had for a while and the part I treated was caused by it” I’m not sure which part was which they’re talking about. The discs in my back that they said were “dehydrated” (I’ve had 1 injection in my neck so far) or the subluxation on the rib. When I complained further they said “this isn’t something you’re gonna get disability for” when I didn’t mention anything like that. I feel like she treated me poorly because I’m a young male that should be in good health otherwise.

Since I’ve been at full duty Ive returned to the chiro/PT twice. The Chiro listens to my complaints but it looks like she is just waiting for me stop talking so she can get the appointment over with and doesn’t offer anything except to send me to the PT for some him to teach me stretches to do at home.

I was referred to pain management in the end and the chiro said that’s all she can do is pain management at this point. She’s adamant there is no surgical option. ( I haven’t asked for surgery, just for an ortho referral as I’ve seen success stories through orthopedics with similar cases to mine)

I’ve had 1 spinal injection and it very slightly helped for about a week or 2. My main complaint this whole time has been I can feel my tendons and ligaments rubbing on my shoulder blades and locking up in my back but I’m worried the chiro got their check and that the injection specialist is going to be after hers now. I do trust the injection specialist more than the chiro definitely but everyone can only do what’s in their field of course.

I’ve told my lawyer I’m not concerned with the settlement check and I want to be fixed. He doesn’t seem very concerned and more so like he is just waiting for me to cash out. He just repeats that I’m at maximum medics improvement and there isn’t much he can do. I’ve asked him about going to an ortho and he won’t give me a straight answer. I asked for his recommendation for the chiro initially and now I wish I didn’t.

Any advice is helpful. I’m lost, barely holding onto my job with PTO/UPT, I’ve been avoiding specific tasks at work to the best of my ability in doing so but I’m about to stop earning it. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m only 22 and I feel like my life is over already.

Edit: one of my main concerns is can I just go see an orthopedic and will work comp cover it? Do I need a referral from a previous dr on my case? When I asked these questions my lawyer didn’t answer it and he got defensive and said the chiro is a good dr and he knows her personally and he hopes I’m not saying she’s bad at her job.