Functional assessment for mutual insurance companies, sick leave and disability

The INSS Disability Assessment Board evaluates your functional limitations and how they affect your occupational duties, based on the medical reports in your file and their own examination; it does not assess the diagnosis itself, but rather what it prevents you from doing. A biomechanical test provides precisely that: the measurement of mobility, strength or gait tolerance, compared to normal values and, if you provide your job role, to the demands of the job. The decision on disability rests with the INSS; the test does not determine it, it documents it.

Both. If your health insurer requests it, they handle it and their doctor indicates what needs to be evaluated. If you go on your own, you need a prescription from your doctor or a request from your lawyer specifying what needs to be evaluated; call us and we will tell you how it works.

That check-up is general. Here, a specific area is measured using instruments and compared against what the job requires.

Because it is the way to track how your injury is progressing using objective data: many mutual insurers collaborating with Social Security use these tests to monitor evolution during sick leave, check whether the affected area has normalised before discharge and, if not, quantify any remaining limitation. The result goes to the mutual insurer's doctor, who makes the final decision. For the worker, it is also a safeguard: if there is a limitation in mobility or strength, it can be documented in the file with figures, in addition to what you report yourself.

Yes, as it is a medical report. In proceedings regarding discharge appeals, permanent incapacity, and degree reassessments, it can be submitted alongside the other reports in the case file, and it is up to the court to decide how much weight to give it. Your lawyer will decide how and when to submit it.

Ideally, the test should be in your file before you are summoned by the medical assessment board, so they have it in front of them when making their ruling. If a decision has already been issued and you plan to appeal it, it is still useful: it documents your functional status on a specific date and can be submitted with the preliminary appeal or during the trial. Discuss it with your lawyer, who will be familiar with the deadlines for your procedure.

The tests are carried out gradually and each exercise is adapted to what you can tolerate; if a movement is not possible, how far you get and why it is stopped are recorded. The report distinguishes between an actual measured limitation and a test that could not be evaluated due to a lack of consistency between repetitions, and explains it. It is best for you to perform each exercise with the maximum effort that pain allows, as a consistent result is what documents your situation.

Yes. Even if the test is requested and paid for by the mutual insurance company, the data is your clinical information and you have the right to access it and request a copy (Law 41/2002). If we performed the test, ask us for it; if another laboratory carried it out, request it in writing from the mutual insurance company.

Yes, through a comprehensive assessment: cervical and lumbar mobility, back muscle tone and fatigue measured using surface electromyography, handgrip strength and gait analysis. In cases of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, there is no imaging test that shows the disease, and what is debated in case files is the functional impact; the comprehensive assessment provides measurements of this impact, but does not diagnose the condition. As in any other region, the report describes the results and their comparison with normal values.