Claim Raven explanation
What this means
Bone abnormalities after injury or disease can affect alignment and place abnormal stress on nearby joints. VA should consider the history, imaging, treatment, healing, and lasting deformity when evaluating those effects.
A report saying that a fracture healed may not explain whether it healed in normal alignment or left shortening or angulation. Those findings need to be described rather than assumed from the diagnosis alone.
How this helps your claim
This helps you compare imaging and examination reports with the limitations discussed in a rating decision. The relevant issue is the documented abnormality and its effects on function.
What to check in your records
Use your decision, examination reports, and relevant records to check the following points.
- Find imaging that describes alignment, shortening, or deformity.
- Compare those findings with the physical examination and movement limits.
- Review the original injury and healing history for lasting residuals.
Read healed alongside alignment and function
A fracture described as healed may still have findings about shortening, angulation or abnormal alignment. Those details can help explain stress on nearby joints or altered function. They should be read alongside the imaging and examination rather than inferred from the word healed.
Keep the location of the bone injury and any adjacent joint findings clearly identified. If a report describes an abnormality, look for its documented functional effect. An imaging finding alone does not necessarily establish the degree of disability or the relationship of every nearby symptom.
Does a healed fracture mean there are no ratable residuals?
Not necessarily. Healing and normal function are different questions. The relevant residuals must be identified and evaluated under the appropriate provisions. Equally, a history of fracture does not automatically establish current impairment when the evidence shows no lasting disabling effect.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 4.44
eCFR snapshot: September 3, 2026. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 4.44 The bones.
The osseous abnormalities incident to trauma or disease, such as malunion with deformity throwing abnormal stress upon, and causing malalignment of joint surfaces, should be depicted from study and observation of all available data, beginning with inception of injury or disease, its nature, degree of prostration, treatment and duration of convalescence, and progress of recovery with development of permanent residuals. With shortening of a long bone, some degree of angulation is to be expected; the extent and direction should be brought out by X-ray and observation. The direction of angulation and extent of deformity should be carefully related to strain on the neighboring joints, especially those connected with weight-bearing.
Related references
- 38 CFR § 4.1: What a VA disability rating measures
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
Ready to review your own document? Start your free claim review.