If you suffer from a musculoskeletal condition, it’s essential to document every aspect of your disorder. It includes attending all scheduled C&P examinations and providing complete medical documentation of your condition.
Secondary conditions can bolster your disability rating, but it’s essential to have well-documented links between these disabilities to ensure the VA recognizes them.
How VA Ratings Work
The VA evaluates each of your disabilities based on their symptoms and assigns a percentage rating to them. It then combines the ratings of all your disabilities to give you an overall disability rating. The VA rating for musculoskeletalconditions can vary greatly depending on the specific condition, its severity, and how it impacts your daily life.
If you have multiple ratings for musculoskeletal conditions, the VA uses the Combined Rating Table to determine your combined disability rating. The table starts with the percentage representing a healthy person and then subtracts the percentage from the highest of your ratings. For example, if you have two disabilities, one rated 60% and the other rated 20%, your total rating will be 80%.
Generally, the VA doesn’t schedule reexaminations when a disability is rated as stable, meaning it is permanent and unlikely to improve. However, this doesn’t mean that the VA cannot reduce your rating for a particular condition if it can show that you no longer have the same symptoms. It just means that they must notify you and provide a period for you to appeal the reduction.
Getting a VA Rating
Getting a disability rating for your musculoskeletal injuries is essential to receiving the compensation you deserve. The process is complex, and it’s essential to understand how to navigate it best.
To begin, it’s crucial to have robust medical evidence to support your claim. It includes demonstrating the link between your primary injuries and any secondary conditions. This will help you inch closer to the 100% disability rating mark.
It would also help if you focused on highlighting your flare-ups during examinations. For example, you may have a knee injury that warrants a 10% disability rating, but during a flare-up, your pain could be much higher. By focusing on this, you can demonstrate that your injury is more disabling than what the schedule deems. The VA examiner will consider this and award you a higher rating during your evaluation.
Appealing a VA Rating
If you’re unhappy with the rating decision on your musculoskeletal disability, you have several options for getting a higher-level review. Your path choice will affect how long it takes to get a favorable outcome and how likely you are to win your claim. A veteran’s disability lawyer can help you choose the best path.
One commenter argued that the current criteria for DC 5257 introduce unintended subjectivity by using translation to measure disability. However, the VA disagrees that the criteria impose unintended subjectivity because they are designed to provide accurate proxies for functional loss of the magnitude that negatively impacts earnings capacity by employing medical standards and treating sources.
Those dissatisfied with the DRO’s decision can request an appeal to the BVA by filing a Notice of Disagreement (NOD) within a year of the date on their rating decision cover letter. Your attorney can help you prepare your NOD and submit additional evidence to support your case.
Variable Symptoms
Most disabled veterans have musculoskeletal conditions that impact the body’s bones, joints, muscles, and connective tissues. These medical conditions cause momentary or lifelong limitations on a veteran’s ability to perform daily activities and can lead to chronic pain.
One of the issues with rating musculoskeletal disabilities is that many involve variable symptoms. For example, a back injury might be rated for forward spine flexion (between 30 and 60 degrees). But when flare-ups occur, the injury could reduce forward flexion below 30 degrees, causing significant limitations on a Veteran’s daily function.
To address these issues, the VA updated its musculoskeletal disability ratings in 2021. Learn more about the rating system and how the VA evaluates a range of injuries, from wrist problems to an abnormal curve in the spine known as scoliosis. You can also explore the VA’s take on carpal tunnel and IBM, a condition that affects the tiny nerve in the base of the big toe.
