Can you get Social Security disability for a Torn Rotator Cuff?

A torn rotator cuff can be painful, and it limits your ability to lift, push, pull, and reach. Your capacity to work can be greatly reduced, particularly where the affected arm is your dominant one.

It is hard to imagine many jobs that would not require you to use your arms in some capacity. Social Security recognizes the limitations caused by a torn rotator cuff and by other conditions affecting the upper extremities.

What a rotator cuff tear does

The rotator cuff is the group of muscles and tendons that hold the shoulder joint in place and allow the arm to be raised and rotated. A tear can follow a single injury or develop gradually through wear.

If you have experienced one, you need no reminder that pain is involved. Many of my clients describe a dull aching pain when the arm is at rest, and a sharp, intense pain when it is in use. Night pain that disrupts sleep is common, particularly when lying on the affected side.

Typical limitations include:

• Difficulty raising the arm, especially above shoulder height
• Weakness when lifting, pushing, or pulling
• Loss of range of motion, including reaching behind the back
• Pain that worsens with use and interferes with sleep
• Difficulty carrying objects at any distance from the body

Once more conservative treatment has been tried, including medication, injections, and physical therapy, a physician may recommend surgery, either an open repair or an arthroscopic repair. Not every procedure succeeds for every patient, and you may find your symptoms persist afterward.

That last point matters for a claim. A repair that did not resolve your symptoms is useful evidence, because it shows the condition is not simply a matter of finding the right treatment.

How Social Security evaluates shoulder conditions

There is no listing specifically for a torn rotator cuff. Shoulder conditions are evaluated under the musculoskeletal listings, at listing 1.18, abnormality of a major joint in any extremity, which covers the shoulder along with the elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle.

Listing 1.18 requires all four of the following:

• Chronic joint pain or stiffness
• Abnormal motion, instability, or immobility of the affected joint
• An anatomical abnormality of the joint noted on physical examination or imaging
• A physical limitation lasting or expected to last twelve months, with a documented medical need for a walker, bilateral canes, or bilateral crutches, or a wheeled device using both hands; or an inability to use one upper extremity for work-related activities together with a documented need for a one-handed device requiring the other; or an inability to use both upper extremities

Being straightforward about the listing

A single torn rotator cuff will almost never meet listing 1.18, and you are better off knowing that now than discovering it after a denial.

The reason is the fourth element. Every route through it involves either both arms or a mobility device. One shoulder, however badly damaged, does not get there. The listing would fit someone with tears in both shoulders, or someone whose shoulder problem sits alongside a lower limb condition requiring a walker, but not the common case.

Listing 1.21, soft tissue injury under continuing surgical management, may apply during an extended course of surgical treatment, so it is worth raising with your representative if you are partway through a series of procedures. That route asks for surgical management that has continued, or is expected to continue, for at least twelve months from the first operation, so the timing of your procedures matters as much as the fact of them.

For most claimants, though, the listing step is not where this claim will be decided, and the effort is better spent on what follows.

Reaching is what wins these claims

Many of my cases turn on a client’s remaining residual functional capacity, which is the maximum they can do once all their limitations are taken into account. If you cannot perform your past work, Social Security considers whether you can perform other work requiring less exertion. If there are not a substantial number of jobs you could do, you may be found disabled.

For a rotator cuff claim, one limitation matters more than any other.

Social Security’s own guidance recognizes that reaching, meaning extending the hands and arms in any direction, is an activity required in almost all jobs. A rotator cuff tear takes reaching away, and it takes overhead reaching away first and most completely.

That is a powerful argument precisely because it is so broadly applicable. A restriction on overhead reaching alone eliminates a substantial share of the occupational base. A restriction on reaching in all directions eliminates considerably more.

Three things that make the argument stronger

The dominant arm. A limitation in the dominant arm is more significant than the same limitation on the other side, and Social Security’s guidance acknowledges this directly. Make sure your records state which arm is dominant, because it is often omitted.

Frequency, not just capability. Social Security grades reaching as constantly, frequently, occasionally, or never. A shoulder that manages one overhead reach may not manage two hundred across a shift. The frequency term in a medical source statement is what a vocational expert will be asked about, so it needs to reflect sustained use rather than a single attempt.

What else the arm cannot do. Lifting and carrying limits determine which exertional category applies to you. Pushing and pulling matter for a range of jobs. If grip is affected, that closes off sedentary work as well, and limitations in hand function erode the job base further.

Other limitations worth documenting

• Pain interfering with concentration and staying on task
• Sleep disruption from night pain, and the daytime fatigue that follows
• Medication side effects, including drowsiness
• Whether both shoulders are affected, even if one is worse
• Time off task and expected monthly absences

Eligibility factors that matter

Your age, education, and transferable skills from past work all come into play. A claimant of 50 or older with no transferable skills is in a considerably stronger position than a younger claimant with identical limitations, and at 55 the vocational rules shift again in the claimant’s favor.

Past work matters in a particular way here. Rotator cuff tears are common in people who have spent years in physical work involving overhead activity, and that is precisely the work Social Security would otherwise expect you to return to. If your job involved construction, warehouse work, painting, or assembly, an inability to reach overhead is a direct answer at that stage.

Since June 22, 2024, Social Security looks at work performed in the previous five years rather than fifteen, so older jobs are no longer part of the analysis.

The evidence your claim needs

Useful evidence includes:

• MRI or imaging confirming the tear and its extent
• Examination findings recording range of motion, measured with a goniometer where possible, and strength testing
• Operative reports where repair surgery has been performed
• Physical therapy records, including what you were unable to achieve
• Documentation of injections and their effect
• A medical source statement addressing reaching in each direction, overhead reaching specifically, lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, and the frequency of each

When you have decreased use of your upper extremities, the effect on your residual functional capacity needs to be presented properly at your hearing. A competent disability attorney can review your medical record and identify the limitations that matter.

Your hearing is your opportunity to tell the Administrative Law Judge what your limitations are and how they affect you day to day. A good representative can present that information at your hearing and give you the best chance of success.

Talk with an Indiana disability attorney

If a shoulder injury is keeping you from working, contact my office for a free consultation.

Rotator cuff claims are won on reaching, and reaching is the limitation most likely to be recorded vaguely or not at all. A medical source statement that gives a frequency for overhead reaching, separately for each arm, is usually worth more to the claim than another scan.

I represent Indiana residents at every stage, from the initial application through a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.