Can you get Social Security disability for Hip Pain?

Hip degeneration and hip injuries can be genuinely disabling. Over time you may notice increasing inflammation, swelling, and significant pain, and the effect on standing and walking can make work impossible.

If a hip impairment is keeping you from working, you may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits, and it is worth understanding how these claims are assessed before you apply.

Documenting your cane or walker

If your doctor has prescribed a cane, walker, crutches, or a wheelchair, keep a copy of that prescription. It is one of the most useful documents in a hip claim, because it helps establish that the device is medically necessary rather than something you chose to use.

This has become considerably more important than it once was, for a reason set out in the next section. The need for an assistive device also significantly reduces the number of jobs a person can perform, which matters at every stage of a claim.

Two things are worth knowing here. A prescription on its own may not be enough: Social Security wants evidence from a medical source that describes why you need the device, what limitation it addresses, and the circumstances in which you need it, covering a period of at least twelve months. If your records simply note that a cane was prescribed, ask your doctor to record the reasoning as well. And a prescription is not actually required. Social Security says so directly, and what it needs instead is the documented medical need. So if you have relied on a walker for a year without ever being formally prescribed one, that route is not closed to you. Ask your doctor to put the need in writing.

How Social Security evaluates hip conditions

Social Security evaluates disability claims using its Listing of Impairments, which sets out criteria for determining whether a person is disabled.

If you have read about hip claims elsewhere, you may have encountered listing 1.02, major dysfunction of a joint. That listing no longer exists. Social Security rewrote the musculoskeletal listings effective April 2021, and hip conditions are now evaluated under one of two listings depending on your situation.

Listing 1.18: abnormality of a major joint in any extremity

This covers hip conditions such as osteoarthritis, avascular necrosis, hip dysplasia, labral tears, and joint damage from injury. It requires all four of the following:

• Chronic joint pain or stiffness
• Abnormal motion, instability, or immobility of the affected joint
• Anatomical abnormality of the joint noted on physical examination or imaging
• A functional limitation lasting or expected to last at least twelve months, with a documented medical need for a walker, bilateral canes, or bilateral crutches, or a wheeled and seated mobility device involving the use of both hands; or an inability to use one upper extremity for work-related movements together with a documented need for a one-handed device that occupies the other; or an inability to use both upper extremities

For a hip claim it is almost always the first of those three that matters, and that last element is where most hip claims fall short. It is worth being direct about it. A single cane does not satisfy this listing. Neither does difficulty walking on its own. The device has to occupy both hands.

This is stricter than the standard it replaced, and it means many people with genuinely disabling hip conditions will not meet the listing. That is not the end of the claim, but it does tell you where to concentrate your effort.

Listing 1.17: reconstructive surgery of a major weight-bearing joint

If you have had a hip replacement or other reconstructive surgery on the hip, this listing applies instead, and for many claimants it is the better route.

It requires reconstructive surgery or surgical arthrodesis of a major weight-bearing joint, together with an impairment-related physical limitation of musculoskeletal functioning that has lasted or is expected to last at least twelve months, and a documented medical need for a walker, bilateral canes, or bilateral crutches, or a wheeled and seated mobility device involving the use of both hands.

The practical point is timing. Most people use a walker for a period after hip replacement surgery. If your recovery does not go as expected and you still need that level of support months afterward, the documentation from that period matters a great deal, and it is worth making sure it is in your records rather than assumed.

If you do not meet a listing

Most hip claims are decided at the next stage, on residual functional capacity, meaning what you can still do and whether any work remains that you could perform on a regular and continuing basis.

Social Security will consider the limitations your hip impairment causes with sitting, standing, and walking. Hip conditions are unusual in affecting all three, which is worth emphasizing rather than assuming a judge will infer it. A hip that hurts on standing frequently also hurts on prolonged sitting, and a claimant who cannot tolerate either is not well suited to sedentary work.

Limitations worth documenting specifically:

• How long you can stand and walk before you need to stop
• How long you can sit before you need to change position
• Whether you need to alternate positions, and how often
• Difficulty with stairs, and with getting up from a seated position
• Limits on bending, stooping, crouching, kneeling, and squatting
• Whether you use an assistive device, when, and for how far
• Falls, or near falls, and any instability
• Night pain and disturbed sleep, and the daytime fatigue that follows
• Medication side effects, including drowsiness from pain medication

Your age, education, and work history also matter considerably at this stage. A claimant of 50 or older who is limited to sedentary work with no transferable skills is in a substantially stronger position than a younger claimant with identical limitations, and at 55 the vocational rules shift again in the claimant’s favor. One rule changed recently in claimants’ favor too: since June 22, 2024, Social Security looks at work performed in the previous five years rather than fifteen.

The evidence your claim needs

To prove the severity of your condition, objective testing such as MRIs, X-rays, and CT scans is crucial. Records from surgeries, physical therapy, and injections show your current level of functioning and what has been tried.

Useful evidence includes:

• Imaging showing joint space narrowing, degenerative change, avascular necrosis, or structural damage
• Examination findings recording range of motion, gait, and any instability
• Operative reports where surgery has been performed
• Physical therapy records and progress notes
• Documentation of injections and their effect
• Supporting notes for any assistive device, setting out the medical reason for it and when you need it, together with any prescription
• A medical source statement addressing standing, walking, sitting, lifting, and expected absences

It is important to show that you are complying with your treatment plan, particularly where your symptoms are not resolving. Treatment that has been tried without success is good evidence rather than a weakness, because it demonstrates the condition is not simply a matter of finding the right intervention.

If cost, lack of insurance, or an inability to tolerate treatment has stopped you from pursuing it, make sure the reason appears in your records. Social Security must consider your explanation before drawing conclusions from a gap.

Tell Social Security about your other conditions

Social Security must consider all of your impairments in combination. Hip problems frequently accompany back problems, since an altered gait puts strain on the spine, and chronic pain frequently brings depression with it. My office represents clients with many disabling conditions, and in my experience most claims succeed on a combination rather than on a single impairment.

Talk with an Indiana disability attorney

If a hip impairment or another condition is preventing you from working, it may be worth consulting an attorney early rather than after a denial. Contact my office for a free consultation.