Get Social Security Disability & SSI Benefits: Foot/Feet Pain

Legal Author - Travis Hansen, Esq.
Updated - September 1, 2025

Winning Your Case

How Your Foot Or Feet Case Is Won - Medical

Disability cases based on a foot or both feet are commonly heard by Social Security. There are a variety of injuries and medical causes that produce a foot or feet impairment and symptoms. Whatever the cause is, you can be awarded Social Security disability benefits if you furnish the correct evidence which includes your medical records and supplemental evidence proving your case. Your evidence will consist of primarily three things: 1) a diagnosis made by objective medical testing (e.g., MRI, CT, EMGs or x-rays), 2) consistent medical treatment, and 3) the ways in which your functioning is limited by your foot/feet.

In nearly all Social Security disability cases, the common symptoms of a foot impairment are pain, reduced range of motion, numbness, tingling, and swelling. Prior to and after most surgical solutions, physical therapy, injections, shoe orthotics, braces, walking boots, canes, walkers, and sometimes wheelchairs are needed.

Disabling Limitations. There are two primary functional or disabling limitations. First, you have difficulty being on your feet - standing and walking. If this is a limitation for you, all jobs requiring you to stand or walk cannot be performed. Second, you need to elevate your foot or feet to reduce symptoms. If this is true for you, all jobs are ruled out as no job can be performed in a reclined or lie-down position.

Foot/Feet Conditions & Proving Disability

There are several common disabling foot impairments.

Foot Fracture. Typically a fractured/broken foot bone is reset, and sometimes hardware such as plates, screws, or wires are necessary to hold the fractured/broken bone together so that it can fuse back together. However, it is usually the case that fractured/broken toes are not reset. Casts, walking boots, or bracing are common. Recovery varies from about six weeks to six months. Social Security will nearly always view a broken foot as an impairment that does not satisfy it's durational requirement (your impairment must last 12 months, be expected to last 12 months, or result in death). Therefore, if you want to obtain Social Security benefits for a foot fracture, you will need to show you suffer ongoing complications such as a non-union of the bone, ongoing severe infections, or your foot symptoms have not been cured.

Foot Osteoarthritis. This form of arthritis damages the cartilage between the joints, and sometimes causes bone spurs in the foot. A debridement is a surgery that removes the damaged cartilage or bone spurs. If the cartilage becomes damaged severely enough, your doctor may prescribe a fusion or arthrodesis, wherein the ends of the foot bones are shaven or cut away and then the foot bones are attached together with metal plates and screws until the two bones fuse. The purpose of the surgery is to keep the bones from flexing and extending against one another so that you no longer have pain. However, the surgery reduces or eliminates some or all of the flexibility of the foot resulting in functional limitations. A second possible surgery for very severe foot osteoarthritis is an artificial joint replacement - an arthroplasty.

Foot Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). This form of arthritis attacks the synovial lining of your foot joint and may produce orthopedic deformities. Common surgeries are -

1. Synovectomy (synovial membrane is taken out),
2. Tenosynovectomy (tendon sheath is taken out),
3. Tendon realignment,
4. Reconstructive surgery or arthroplasty (taking out an affected joint and implanting an artificial joint), and
5. Arthrodesis (fusing bones together).

Bunions and Foot Deformities. Deformities result from birth defects and traumatic injuries. For a correction of a deformity, you may undergo an osteotomy, a surgery wherein your doctor cuts your foot bones and realigns them in the proper place. Hardware may be necessary. Bunions are common. A bunion is an abnormal bony growth at the metatarsophalangeal joint (where your foot attaches to your big toe).

Foot Tendon or Nerve Damage. Tendon and nerve damage result from a wide variety of circumstances - acute injury to arthritis to diabetes. Generally, surgeries include joining the tendon or nerve that severed or replacing the tendon or nerve with a graft (donor) from another part of the body.

Significance Of A Foot Or Feet Surgery

Social Security's evaluation of your case will change if you need a surgery as it means your foot/feet condition is more severe than if you do not need a surgery. Some conditions are not amenable to surgery, and some surgeries either fail to remedy or even worsen your foot/feet condition. If this happens to you, Social Security will find your foot/feet condition even more severe. If you require multiple surgeries, proof of your surgeries will be extremely strong evidence that your foot/feet condition hinders your functioning.

Other Serious Foot/Feet Conditions & Proving Disability

There are many serious foot conditions that affect your ability to function. If you have one, read one of our reviews of that condition:

1. Amputations
2. Burns,
3. Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/RSD,
4. Diabetes-Related Conditions,
5. Gout,
6. Neuropathy,
7. Peripheral Artery Disease,
8. Raynaud's,
9. Rheumatoid Arthritis,
10. Skin Conditions,
11. Vasculitis, and
12. Venous Insufficiency.

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