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Conditions

Each condition gets the same treatment: what the DBQ measures, how to prepare for the exam, how a private physician should complete the form, and a tool to check a completed exam for gaps.

Diagnostic Codes 5260 / 5261 Knee — Limitation of Flexion The second most common first-time VA disability claim in the country. Everything here covers the Knee and Lower Leg DBQ and what it takes for that exam to support the rating your knee actually warrants. 6 guides · Decoder tool → Diagnostic Code 5201 Shoulder & Arm — Limitation of Motion Covers the Shoulder and Arm Conditions DBQ. Unlike the knee, a shoulder claim can end up rated under several different diagnostic codes depending on the underlying injury — which changes what the exam needs to document. 6 guides · Decoder tool → Diagnostic Code 5271 Ankle — Limitation of Motion Covers the Ankle Conditions DBQ. Unusually among joint claims, the rating criteria define “moderate” and “marked” in degrees — so a veteran can read their own completed exam and check the arithmetic. 2 guides → Diagnostic Code 8100 Migraine — Prostrating Attacks Covers the Headaches (including Migraines) DBQ. Every tier of this rating turns on one word — prostrating — and VA prints its own definition of it right on the form. 2 guides → Diagnostic Code 6260 Tinnitus — Recurrent The most-claimed condition in the country, and the one with no public DBQ. No private provider can complete this form — which changes where your effort should go, and makes your own account the evidence that matters. 2 guides → Diagnostic Code 8520 Sciatic Nerve — Paralysis Covers the Peripheral Nerves Conditions DBQ. One rule decides most of these claims: where the impairment is wholly sensory, the rating is capped — so the hands-on testing is what lifts a claim past 20%. 2 guides →

In development

The Phase 1 roadmap covers the ten most common first-time VA disability claims. These are next:

Lumbosacral & cervical strainHearing lossScars & burnsPTSD

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