Secondary Conditions

female wheelchair user in a garden, lauging
Photo courtesy Colorado Medical Home Initiative & Florida Office on Disability and Health

You can learn ways to deal with the common secondary conditions of depression, fatigue and pain.

The HAIL database has information on common health problems called secondary conditions that are experienced by people with physical disabilities:

These are called secondary conditions because they often occur as the result of a primary disability, and can be more serious and limiting than the primary disability. They can be very serious if a person experiences multiple conditions, such as pain and depression resulting from an amputation.

We chose to focus on these three conditions because research shows that they affect people with physical disabilities at a much higher rate than non-disabled people.

These conditions are not inevitable, nor do people have to “just live with it.” There are solutions they can try. We have collected a range of resources for those who want to tackle one or more of these secondary conditions.