Why it matters for your claim
If you're searching for keywords for VA rating, start with the wording for your condition. A phrase such as "prostrating attacks" tells you what VA needs to evaluate. Repeating it doesn't establish that you meet the criteria. Dates, medical findings, and descriptions of what you cannot do give the phrase meaning.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses the rating schedule in Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 4. Each diagnostic code (DC) identifies a condition or group of conditions. Find yours in the diagnostic-code directory, then read the whole percentage level and its notes.
This guide explains recurring terms, grouped by body system. Short regulatory excerpts appear beside plain explanations. Evidence suggestions are practical examples, not a required document checklist or a promise of a particular percentage. The regulations were checked September 25, 2026, against eCFR's current Part 4, displayed as updated through September 23, 2026.
What the rule says
Three reading rules help across conditions:
- Read the entire requirement. A phrase may have a frequency, duration, treatment, or examination requirement attached. "And" joins requirements; "or" can identify alternative ways to meet a level.
- Describe function. Section 4.21 connects ratings with impairment of function. Explain what changes at work, at home, and during ordinary activities.
- Read the record as a whole. Under section 4.2, rating specialists reconcile examination reports with your history. Under section 4.7, when two evaluations are in question, the higher applies if your disability picture more nearly approximates its criteria. That doesn't erase a code's specific requirements.
Mental health: work and relationships
These phrases appear in the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders in 38 CFR 4.130, including DC 9411 for posttraumatic stress disorder and DC 9434 for major depressive disorder.
"Occupational and social impairment" means limitations in work functioning and relationships caused by your mental-health symptoms. "Occupational" covers functioning in a work setting; "social" concerns interactions and relationships. The phrase alone doesn't identify a percentage. The wording that follows describes the degree of impairment.
| Exact wording | Plain meaning and rating context | Evidence that helps explain it |
|---|---|---|
| "occasional decrease in work efficiency" | Part of the 30% level: intermittent difficulty doing work, while generally functioning satisfactorily. | Examples of concentration lapses, interrupted tasks, and how often they occur. |
| "reduced reliability and productivity" | The 50% level describes reduced dependability and ability to get things done, with occupational and social effects. | Repeated missed deadlines, errors, attendance problems, or difficulty maintaining work and personal relationships. |
| "deficiencies in most areas" | The 70% level names work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood. Problems extend across much of your life. | Specific changes in several areas, supported by treatment notes and observations from people who know you. |
| "Total occupational and social impairment" | The 100% level describes total impairment in both domains. Being unemployed alone does not establish this. | Clinical findings and concrete accounts of work functioning, relationships, communication, safety, and self-care. |
The formula says "such symptoms as" before its examples. Read those examples with the overall impairment level, not as a scorecard where each symptom earns points. Section 4.126 requires consideration of symptom frequency, severity, duration, remissions, and functioning between episodes; VA cannot base the evaluation solely on social impairment.
Useful evidence explains the pattern over time. Describe what happens on better days as well as during episodes, and identify help or accommodations you need. A calm conversation at an examination doesn't replace the full history required by section 4.126.
Migraines: attacks that stop ordinary activity
DC 8100, in 38 CFR 4.124a, uses "characteristic prostrating attacks." In this phrase, "characteristic" describes the kind of attack associated with the condition. It is not a separate percentage or a requirement to use a special word in your statement.
"Prostrating" concerns disabling exhaustion or incapacity, not simply a high pain score. VA's headaches Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) explains it as extreme exhaustion, powerlessness, debilitation, or incapacitation that substantially prevents ordinary activities. A DBQ is a medical questionnaire used to document a condition for a disability claim.
Record whether an attack makes you stop working, driving, cooking, or caring for yourself; whether you must lie down; and how long that lasts. Lying in a dark room is a useful description when true, but DC 8100 doesn't impose a physician-prescribed bed-rest requirement.
| DC 8100 level | Exact distinguishing words | What to document |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | "averaging one in 2 months over last several months" | Dates of characteristic prostrating attacks over several months. |
| 30% | "occurring on an average once a month over last several months" | The same details, showing the average frequency. |
| 50% | "very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability" | Frequency, inability to function during attacks, duration, and serious effects on work. |
"Completely prostrating" describes attacks that leave you unable to carry out ordinary activity; "prolonged" addresses how long they last. The regulation doesn't supply a fixed hour count for prolonged attacks or a numerical cutoff for "very frequent." More than one headache per month doesn't automatically establish 50%.
"Severe economic inadaptability" addresses serious difficulty adapting to work because of the attacks. The Veterans Court explained in Pierce v. Principi that complete inability to work is not required. Attendance records, reduced hours, interrupted shifts, and an employer's description can help show the effect.
A headache log should separate all headache days from attacks that substantially prevent ordinary activities. Note associated nausea, light or sound sensitivity, treatment, and recovery time, alongside what you could and could not do.
Joints and spine: movement, pain, and flare-ups
Functional loss and painful motion
"Functional loss" concerns difficulty performing normal movements with the usual strength, speed, coordination, and endurance. Section 4.40 explains it; section 4.45 adds factors such as weakened movement, excess fatigability, and pain on movement. These rules matter when applying joint codes such as DC 5260 for limited knee flexion and DC 5237 for back or neck strain.
Evidence should connect symptoms to movement: how far you can bend, how long you can stand, whether repeated lifting weakens your arm, or whether walking changes your gait. An examination can document range of motion in degrees, strength, swelling, and the effect of repeated movement.
"Painful motion" means movement of an affected joint causes pain. Section 4.59 recognizes qualifying painful, unstable, or misaligned joints from healed injury as entitled to at least the joint's minimum compensable rating. It calls for testing pain during active and passive motion, with and without weight-bearing, and comparison with the opposite undamaged joint when possible.
The minimum depends on the applicable joint code. This isn't an automatic additional 10% for every painful body part. Document where pain occurs, the movement that triggers it, and what it prevents.
Flare-ups and repeated use over time
Flare-ups are episodes when symptoms become worse than usual. Repeated use over time concerns how function changes after sustained activity. Both can reveal limitations that a brief examination doesn't reproduce.
For spine ratings under section 4.71a, such as DC 5237, these facts help explain functional loss under sections 4.40 and 4.45. The phrase "flare-ups" appears in VA's examination questions; it is not a separate percentage in the spine formula.
The VA back DBQ asks about frequency, duration, triggers, relief, severity, and limitations during flares. It asks the examiner to estimate motion during flares from available evidence even when a flare isn't occurring, or explain why an estimate cannot be provided.
Example: In a hypothetical statement, "My back flares twice a month for two days. During those episodes I need help putting on socks and cannot stand long enough to cook" explains more than "severe back pain." Give your own truthful account; the examiner supplies clinical measurements and estimates.
Ankylosis, favorable and unfavorable
"Ankylosis" concerns fixation or immobility of a joint or spinal segment. It is different from ordinary stiffness. For DC 5237 and other spine codes, note (5) of section 4.71a says fixation in a neutral position represents "favorable ankylosis." "Favorable" describes the position, not an absence of disability.
"Unfavorable ankylosis" has a specific spine definition: the entire relevant segment is fixed in flexion or extension and causes at least one listed consequence, such as limited vision affecting walking or certain breathing, swallowing, or neurological problems. Evidence should describe the affected segment, position, remaining movement, and resulting limitations. If pain makes movement effectively impossible during flares, describe that too rather than diagnosing yourself.
Totally incapacitating
For active multi-joint arthritis, DC 5002 in section 4.71a uses "totally incapacitating" at 100%, together with constitutional manifestations associated with active joint involvement. This means whole-body manifestations accompany the active arthritis and the resulting incapacity is total. It is not shorthand for any painful joint.
Rheumatology findings, examination results, and records describing the disease's effects on ordinary activities and self-care help explain this level. The code's active-process rating and chronic-residual ratings are alternatives; they aren't combined.
Nerves and muscles: mild, moderate, moderately severe, severe
These words don't have one percentage or definition across Part 4. A clinician calling your pain "severe" doesn't by itself establish the schedule's severe level.
For sciatic nerve impairment, DC 8520 in section 4.124a assigns 10% for mild incomplete paralysis, 20% for moderate, 40% for moderately severe, and 60% for "Severe, with marked muscular atrophy." Atrophy means muscle wasting. "Incomplete paralysis" describes impaired nerve function below the code's complete-paralysis picture; it doesn't mean the limb must be completely immobile.
The nerve schedule says wholly sensory involvement should be rated mild or, at most, moderate. Under section 4.120, evidence should address movement, sensation, and changes in tissues. Strength and sensory testing, reflex findings, measurements of muscle wasting, and accounts of walking or lifting limitations help describe the disability. These labels describe increasing loss of nerve function. The code supplies no numerical boundary between mild, moderate, and moderately severe, so the clinical findings and functional effects matter. No universal pain-score cutoff separates these levels.
Muscle injuries use a different framework. Section 4.56 defines slight, moderate, moderately severe, and severe muscle disabilities for DCs 5301 through 5323 in section 4.73, including DC 5301.
Here the categories reflect the injury, treatment history, ongoing symptoms, and objective findings. Moderate injuries can involve loss of power or earlier fatigue; moderately severe injuries involve deeper injury history and measurable impairment; severe injuries include more extensive damage and findings such as major scarring or muscle loss. Wound-treatment records, hospitalization history, scars, strength comparisons, and endurance testing matter. These are not interchangeable with the sciatic nerve categories.
Incapacitating episodes: different rules by condition
"Incapacitating" sounds like any day you cannot function. Several codes give it a narrower medical meaning. Check the note attached to your condition.
| Body system and code | What qualifies under that rule | Evidence to identify |
|---|---|---|
| Spine: DC 5243, intervertebral disc syndrome, 4.71a | Acute signs and symptoms requiring "bed rest prescribed by a physician" and physician treatment. | Prescription, treatment records, and total qualifying duration over the past 12 months. Choosing to stay in bed isn't the same. |
| Respiratory: DC 6510, sinusitis, 4.97 | An episode requiring bed rest and physician treatment. The 10% and 30% incapacitating-episode paths also require prolonged antibiotic treatment lasting four to six weeks. | Episode dates, clinical treatment, bed-rest requirements, and antibiotic duration. Non-incapacitating episodes have a separate path with specified symptoms. |
| Chronic fatigue syndrome: DC 6354, 4.88b | Incapacitation exists only when a licensed physician prescribes bed rest and treatment. | Prescribed periods and their yearly duration, plus changes in routine activities compared with before the illness. |
For DC 5243's episode formula, totals of at least one, two, four, or six weeks in the past 12 months correspond to 10%, 20%, 40%, or 60%, respectively, with each lower level ending where the next begins. The spine formula is an alternative. Lack of prescribed bed rest doesn't eliminate evaluation under that formula.
For sinusitis, "non-incapacitating episodes" can still affect the rating. The specified combination includes headaches, pain, and purulent discharge or crusting. Purulent discharge means pus-containing drainage. The distinction is about the criteria, not whether you felt sick enough to miss work.
Frequency and treatment terms in other body systems
Frequency means how often something happens, but the relevant unit changes by code. Count attacks, days, treatment courses, or nighttime awakenings as the rule specifies.
| Term and location | Plain meaning | Evidence that shows it |
|---|---|---|
| "Daytime voiding interval," 4.115a, used for conditions such as DC 7512, cystitis, under 4.115b | Time between urinations. The frequency criteria also measure waking from sleep to urinate. | A dated bladder diary with daytime intervals and nighttime awakenings, plus treatment records. For example, an interval under one hour or at least five awakenings to urinate meets the 40% frequency criterion. |
| "intermittent (at least three per year) courses of systemic (oral or parenteral) corticosteroids," DC 6602, asthma, 4.97 | A 60% alternative based on qualifying steroid courses. Here systemic means oral or injected treatment, distinct from an inhaled medication. | Medication name, route, dates, and reason prescribed. Don't count inhaler refills as oral steroid courses. |
| "Characteristic lesions" and "Constant or near-constant systemic therapy," DC 7806, dermatitis or eczema, 4.118 | Lesions are the condition's skin changes. The formula considers affected area or qualifying treatment. Section 4.118 distinguishes systemic treatment from treatment through the skin. | Dated photographs, clinical estimates of total and exposed skin affected, and treatment type, route, and duration over the past 12 months. |
Common mistakes
- Copying a phrase without describing an event, limitation, or medical finding that supports it.
- Counting every headache as a prostrating attack, or every day in bed as a qualifying incapacitating episode.
- Treating "severe" as the same standard for nerves, muscles, and mental health.
- Describing only the examination day and leaving out recurring flares or limitations after activity.
Questions veterans ask
Do I need to use the regulation's exact words?
No. Section 4.2 recognizes that examiners describe the same disability differently. Explain your symptoms clearly and accurately. The claim evidence guide helps you organize records and observations that support those descriptions.
Does one DBQ checkbox decide my percentage?
A checkbox is evidence, not the entire rating decision. VA describes using examination results, medical records, and other evidence when assigning a disability rating. For mental health, section 4.126 expressly requires the whole relevant record. Read the compensation and pension examination guide for preparation.
How do these percentages affect my combined rating?
VA combines individual ratings rather than simply adding them. After identifying the relevant condition percentages, the Claim Raven rating calculator linked below lets you see how they combine. It doesn't decide which medical criteria your evidence establishes.
Claim Raven explains VA rules in plain English so you can work your own claim. It is not legal advice, and Claim Raven is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Browse every VA term.