Claim Raven explanation
What this means
Disability evaluations consider functioning under ordinary conditions of daily life, including employment. Examiners must describe the effects on ordinary activity.
An examination should explain more than test results and a diagnosis. It should describe what the condition does to ordinary activities, including work. Being able to complete a task once, with rest or assistance, may not explain how the person functions across a normal day. Accurate details about those limits make the record clearer.
How this helps your claim
This rule helps you explain the practical effects of a condition in addition to its medical name. Accurate examples of ordinary activities can give an examiner a clearer picture of disability. A brief activity or a comfortable day at home may not describe what happens over a full workday or during repeated activity.
What to check in your records
Write down accurate examples of affected activities, their frequency, and the help or adjustments needed.
- Look for examples of activities affected by the condition, such as walking, concentrating, dressing, or completing tasks, when relevant to your situation.
- Record how often the limitation occurs, how long it lasts, and what help, rest, or adjustments you need.
- Compare your treatment and examination records with those examples. Describe what actually happens, including variation between better and worse days.
Describe how an ordinary task is actually performed
Being able to complete a task once may leave important details unexplained. Note whether it requires assistance, rest, extra time or a change in technique. Those facts can describe functional effects without inventing a medical measurement or a rating level.
Use concrete activities relevant to the condition, such as carrying groceries, following a conversation or completing a work task. Include what remains possible as well as what is limited. A balanced description helps show ordinary functioning instead of presenting only an unusually good or unusually difficult day.
Should I stop an activity to demonstrate disability?
No. Describe actual limitations while following appropriate care and ordinary safety practices. This rule concerns evidence of functioning; it is not an instruction to worsen symptoms or abandon treatment. Accurate reports of assistance, pacing and limitations are more useful than behavior staged to match a rating description.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 4.10
eCFR snapshot: September 3, 2026. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 4.10 Functional impairment.
The basis of disability evaluations is the ability of the body as a whole, or of the psyche, or of a system or organ of the body to function under the ordinary conditions of daily life including employment. Whether the upper or lower extremities, the back or abdominal wall, the eyes or ears, or the cardiovascular, digestive, or other system, or psyche are affected, evaluations are based upon lack of usefulness, of these parts or systems, especially in self-support. This imposes upon the medical examiner the responsibility of furnishing, in addition to the etiological, anatomical, pathological, laboratory and prognostic data required for ordinary medical classification, full description of the effects of disability upon the person's ordinary activity. In this connection, it will be remembered that a person may be too disabled to engage in employment although he or she is up and about and fairly comfortable at home or upon limited activity.
[91 FR 9712, Feb. 27, 2026]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 4.1: What a VA disability rating measures
- 38 CFR § 4.2: Inadequate VA examination reports
- 38 CFR § 4.16: TDIU: VA individual unemployability rules
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
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