Can You Get Disability for Spondylolisthesis, Retrolisthesis, or Laterolisthesis?

Spondylolisthesis (spawn-duh-low-less-THEE-sis), retrolisthesis, lumbar spondylosis, and laterolisthesis are the medical terms for disorders of the vertebrae—the bones that make up your spine— that can cause significant back pain. Doctors diagnose these disorders according to the exact location of the abnormal vertebra and the direction in which the bone is misaligned.

While some people are able to manage their back pain with only minor adjustments to their daily routine, others experience severe limitations that can keep them from working full-time. If you're struggling to function as a result of spondylolisthesis or a related disorder, it's important to know when you can qualify for Social Security benefits or—if you're a veteran—disability compensation from the VA.

Is Spondylolisthesis a Disability?

Spondylolisthesis occurs when one of the vertebrae in your back slips onto the bone below it. When this happens, it can put pressure on one of the many nerves that run up and down your spine, causing pain in the area of the body that corresponds to the connected nerve (such as the lower back, legs, neck, or arms). This pain can cause functional limitations that restrict or even eliminate the types of jobs you can perform. If you can't do any full-time work for at least one year despite your limitations, you're considered disabled under Social Security's definition.

Spondylolisthesis, Retrolisthesis, and Laterolisthesis

Spondylolisthesis is often used to refer to any slippage of the spinal vertebrae, regardless of direction. (The term comes from the Greek words "spondylos" meaning "spine," and "listhesis," meaning "sliding or slipping.") Your doctor may have given you a more specific diagnosis of retrolisthesis or laterolisthesis depending on the direction your vertebra has moved. Retrolisthesis means that a vertebra has slipped backward onto another, while laterolisthesis, or "lateral listhesis," means that a vertebra has moved sideways.

Causes and Symptoms of Spondylolisthesis

Spondylolisthesis is usually caused by simple wear and tear due to aging. For people over the age of 50, spondylolisthesis often occurs with other degenerative diseases of the spine, such as facet joint arthritis. The facet joints connect the larger vertebrae in your back and are made of cartilage, a firm tissue that is softer and more flexible than bone. If the cartilage becomes eroded from arthritis, a nearby vertebra may slip and cause pain.

Genetics can also play a role in developing spondylolisthesis. If you've received a diagnosis of isthmic (IZ-mik) spondylolisthesis, it means you were born with a thinner than normal section of your vertebra called the pars interarticularis—a piece of bone that links your facet joints to the adjacent vertebrae—meaning they're more likely to fracture and slip. Other causes include:

• a traumatic injury (such as a car accident) that causes a vertebra to slip
• scoliosis leading to laterolisthesis
• congenital defects preventing your spine from forming the way it should before birth, and
• complications following spinal surgery.

Not everybody with spondylolisthesis, retrolisthesis, or laterolisthesis will experience symptoms—some people may have the condition and not even know it. But when symptoms do occur, they can be painful and can prevent you from doing activities that you previously had no trouble with. Back pain is the most common symptom of spondylolisthesis. Others include:

• muscle spasms in the back of your thighs
• stiffness in your back
• difficulty with walking or standing
• pain when sitting or bending over, and
• numbness, weakness, or tingling in your foot.

Is Spondylosis a Disability?

Spondylosis (spawn-duh-LOW-sis) refers to a different, often less severe kind of spinal defect than spondylolisthesis, which specifically involves slipped vertebrae. Spondylosis is a type of spinal degeneration and may turn into spondylolisthesis over time. People with a diagnosis of lumbar spondylosis, for example, might eventually develop spondylolisthesis in their lower back vertebrae. When deciding whether you're disabled, however, your exact diagnosis isn't as important to Social Security as your functional limitations are.

Getting Social Security Disability Benefits for Spondylolisthesis or Spondylosis

The Social Security Administration can find you disabled "medically" or "vocationally." Medical disability means that your medical records contain evidence of symptoms or test results that the agency has already determined are enough to find you disabled under its listing of impairments. If you're approved through a vocational allowance, that means Social Security has found that your particular limitations make it impossible for you to do any job.

Qualifying Under the Medical Listing for Skeletal Spine Disorders

Social Security doesn't specifically name spondylolisthesis, spondylosis, laterolisthesis, or retrolisthesis as one of the listed impairments that can get your claim automatically approved. But the agency can evaluate your claim under Listing 1.15, Disorders of the skeletal spine resulting in compromise of a nerve root. You may meet the requirements of listing 1.15 listing if your medical records document all of the following:

• pain, numbness, or fatigue in the part of your body affected by the nerve that your slipped vertebra is touching
• physical examinations showing weakness, irritation, and decreased sensation in that part of your body
• findings on medical imaging (like an MRI, X-ray, or CT scan) that your bone is touching a nerve, and
• you have severe mobility problems to the point that you need to use an assistive device and don't have at least both hands free to do work-related activities.

If you think you qualify for disability based on listing 1.15, try to get a written medical opinion from your doctor. It's especially helpful to get a statement from a doctor who has special knowledge about your history with spondylolisthesis—for example, an orthopedic surgeon you've seen for several years. The doctor's statement should specifically address the limitations described by listing 1.15, like any difficulty you have walking without an assistive device.

Qualifying Vocationally if You Don't Meet the Medical Listing

Since spondylolisthesis and spondylosis can be progressive, you might be at a stage where your limitations don't meet the requirements of the above listing but are still serious enough to prevent you from working. In this case, Social Security can find you disabled "vocationally" if the agency concludes that no jobs are available anywhere in the country that you can perform. In order to do that, Social Security will need to determine your residual functional capacity, or RFC.

What's In Your RFC. Your RFC is a set of restrictions, physical and mental, that represent the most you can do at work despite your spondylolisthesis symptoms. Social Security will look at your medical records and your activities of daily living to decide what restrictions should be included in your RFC. The agency asks about your daily activities because it makes sense that something you have difficulty with at home would be something you would struggle with at work.

For example, if you feel pain in your lower back or legs after walking to the mailbox and back, it makes sense that you couldn't do a job where you'd have to walk around all day. Or if you have listhesis in your cervical spine, and you fumble with zippers and buttons while getting dressed, you probably wouldn't do well at a job where you had to handle small objects like screws. These exertional and non-exertional limitations might be reflected in your RFC as a restriction to sit-down jobs where you'd use your hands only occasionally.

How Social Security Uses Your RFC. Social Security compares your current RFC with the demands of your past work to determine if you could do those jobs today. If you can't, then the agency will need to see whether you could perform other, less demanding jobs, given your age, education, and skill set. For younger claimants, this usually means showing that you can't do simple, sedentary work, while claimants 50 years of age and older may have an easier time qualifying for disability using a special set of rules called the "medical-vocational grid."

Getting a VA Disability Rating for Spondylolisthesis

Veterans who have service-connected spondylolisthesis may get a disability rating in order to qualify for monthly compensation benefits from the VA. According to the VA Schedule of Rating Disabilities (38 CFR Part 4), spondylolisthesis has a diagnostic code of 5239 and is evaluated under the General Rating Formula for Diseases and Injuries of the Spine. The formula allows the VA to assign compensable disability ratings of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 100%, depending on how severely your range of motion is limited.

Medical Documentation You'll Need to Win Disability

Your medical records are the foundation of your Social Security claim. The agency will want to see that your doctor has run some tests to determine the type of spondylolisthesis you have, how severe your condition is, and whether you have any additional conditions affecting your back. This should include a physical examination, during which your doctor looks for areas of tenderness, limited range of motion, muscle spasms, and muscle weakness.

Objective Medical Imaging

Your doctor should order imaging tests, such as an X-ray, MRI, or CT scan. X-rays help your doctor see if there is a vertebra out of place. CT (computerized tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans let your doctor see if there is damage to nerves or tissue, such as facet joints. A nerve conduction study (NCS) lets your doctor see if the affected vertebra is preventing nerve signals from traveling to your legs or feet.

Treatment Records

Treatment for spondylolisthesis depends on how severe your condition is. At first, you may be able to manage your symptoms with nonsurgical treatments, including:

• medication management, including over-the-counter pain relievers, muscle relaxers (gabapentin), and prescription opioids such as Vicodin (hydrocodone) or Percocet (oxycodone)
• epidural steroid injections that can relieve pain by injecting a steroid directly into the space surrounding the spinal cord and nerves to reduce inflammation
• physical therapy helps strengthen your spinal and abdominal muscles which can in turn relieve pain and increase your mobility
• lumbar braces compress your abdomen and take some pressure off your spinal column, and
• TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) units reduce muscle spasms and increase your body's production of endorphins, a natural painkiller.

Ideally, your medical records will contain most, if not all, of the above treatment records. You should let Social Security know about the dates and locations of your doctor visits, including referrals to any specialists (like an orthopedic surgeon or neurologists) so that the agency can obtain these clinical notes and add them to your case file.

Surgical Intervention

If you've tried most or all of the above treatments and you're still experiencing pain, your doctor may recommend surgery. A typical surgery for spondylolisthesis is spinal decompression. During decompression surgery, your surgeon removes bone or tissue, which gives the nerves space inside the spinal canal, relieving pain.

Another common back surgery is spinal fusion. For a fusion surgery, your surgeon connects the bones that have slipped and are causing pain. As they heal, they form into one bone, eliminating movement between the two vertebrae and preventing them from slipping again. If you've had a spinal fusion, you might find that you have reduced flexibility in your back as a result.

Disability Benefit Amounts for Spondylolisthesis, Retrolisthesis, and Laterolisthesis

Social Security doesn't pay disability benefits based on the type of disabling condition you have. Instead, the amount you'll receive if your claim is approved depends on whether you're eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For 2025, you can get a maximum of $4,018 per month in SSDI, although the average amount is much smaller, at $1,580. SSI payments are calculated by subtracting any countable income you have from the federal benefit rate ($967 per month in 2025).

Likewise, VA compensation isn't determined by your medical diagnosis. But unlike Social Security, the VA will pay you on a scale that corresponds to your disability percentage rating. For example, the 2025 base rate for an individual veteran who has a 10% rated disability is $175.51 per month, while a 100% disabled veteran has a base monthly rate of $3,974.15. You can find the exact figure for your specific situation using the current VA disability compensation tables.

Applying for Social Security and VA Disability Benefits

Filing for Social Security disability benefits is a fairly straightforward process. One easy way to start your application is to apply online at the SSA.gov website. You don't have to complete the application all at once—just make sure that you keep track of the application number given to you when you start the application so you can access it again if you need to come back to it.

You can also apply for disability benefits by phone by calling 800-772-1213 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you're deaf or hard of hearing, you can call the TTY number at 800-325-0778. Or, you can choose to apply for disability benefits in person at your local Social Security field office. Some offices require that you make an appointment before you show up, so it's best to call ahead first.

Applications for VA disability compensation follow a similar procedure. You'll need to complete Form 21-526EZ, Application for Disability Compensation and Related Compensation Benefits, which you can do online using the electronic version of the form. You can also print out the form and fax it to 844-531-7818 (248-524-4260 from outside the U.S.), bring it to your local VA office, or mail it to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444.

Getting Legal Help for Your Disability Claim

You aren't required to get a lawyer when you apply for Social Security or VA disability benefits, but it's usually a smart move. An experienced disability attorney can help you gather the medical evidence you'll need to show that you have work-preclusive limitations, establish service-connection for VA benefits and represent you in front of a hearing with a disability judge or Board of Veterans Appeals. Disability lawyers work on contingency—meaning they don't get paid unless you win your claim—and many offer free consultations, so you can ask around to find one who's a good match for you.