Home/Shoulder & Arm — Limitation of Motion
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.

Filing a shoulder/arm claim: the sequence How the filing sequence works for a shoulder claim, and why the diagnostic code may not be the one you expect.
Before your exam

Make sure you have the current form

VA revises Disability Benefits Questionnaires periodically, and an examiner who completes a superseded version can have the exam sent back. VA no longer prints form numbers on DBQs — it lists them by title — so the way to check is the small line in the bottom-right corner of every page.

The current Shoulder and/or Arm DBQ, as of September 2026, reads Updated on: 2025-04-15 (v25_3) and runs 14 pages. If the copy your provider is using shows an older date, download a fresh one: VA's official copy.

Don't rely on a date cutoff alone — some DBQs are revised rarely and legitimately carry older dates. Compare against what VA publishes today rather than against a particular year. This questionnaire was formerly issued as VA Form 21-0960M-12; that number is no longer printed on the form, so don't be thrown if you can't find it.