Foot Conditions C&P Exam

Find the rules for your diagnosis

Use the name in your medical records. Choose a topic to make a guide with the matching rating rules. If you are unsure, the preparation checklist will help you ask the examiner what is being checked.

I am unsure or my diagnosis is not listed

Inside the exam room

1. You will be asked which foot hurts and what treatment you have tried. Explain whether inserts, shoes, or other treatment help.

2. The examiner will check the findings relevant to your foot condition, such as arches, tenderness, swelling, calluses, alignment, or pain while standing. Point out painful areas and what changes after walking.

3. You will be asked about standing, walking, and worse periods. Explain how long you can stand or walk, recovery time, and what you can still do.

How VA rates foot conditions

Start with the diagnosis in your records. If you are unsure, ask which condition, joint, or nerve the examiner is checking. Keep notes on your symptoms and daily limits; a symptom alone does not identify the right rating table.

The foot exam form (DBQ) asks about how you stand and walk, whether the foot rolls inward, tenderness, thickened skin, swelling, arches, shoe inserts, and daily activities. There is no single movement angle for every foot condition.

Which exam or test results are needed?

Use the diagnosis and findings in your records. These choices show the relevant rules; they do not calculate or decide your rating.

What may happen in the exam room

The examiner looks at both feet while you stand and put weight on them
They watch you walk and look at wear on your shoes
They press on the soles and balls of your feet to check tenderness
They check the position of the tendon behind your ankle and how it changes when they move the foot
Review of shoe inserts, braces, cane, or prescription footwear

What the measurements tell you

Whether one foot or both feet are affected
How much the foot rolls inward or has changed shape
Pain when the examiner moves the foot or when you use it
Swelling, thickened skin (calluses), and tenderness on the sole
Whether prescribed shoes or shoe inserts help
What changes after repeated walking or during worse periods

Questions the examiner may cover

When did the foot symptoms begin and how have they changed?
How long can you stand or walk before symptoms increase?
Are symptoms on one side or on both sides?
Do shoe inserts, supportive shoes, injections, therapy, or surgery provide relief?
Do flare-ups change walking, balance, or ability to work?

Questions to expect

Which diagnosis and foot are affected, and does support help?

Explain: Describe pain with standing or walking, each side, orthotics or shoes and remaining limits.

Rating connection: Flatfoot, plantar fasciitis and other foot diagnoses use different rules. Response to treatment and one-versus-both feet can change the applicable row.

What findings or treatments are recorded?

Explain: Identify examinations, deformity, tenderness, swelling, callosities and treatment outcomes as applicable to your diagnosis.

Rating connection: Clinical findings and the complete diagnosis-specific treatment requirements support the row; foot pain has no single universal percentage.

Your answer outline

My [left/right/both] foot or feet feel [actual symptom] during [activity]. Symptoms start [when] and change after [time or distance]. I then [adjustment]. [Shoes, orthotics, or treatment] help by [actual effect], but [remaining difficulty].

Mark approximate dates and counts as estimates.

My notes: ________________________

Service connection records

1. How is this connected to your service?

For a direct claim, identify your current disability, what happened in service, and evidence linking them. Being on active duty or orders alone does not prove that link.

Write the 5 Ws and how: who was there; what happened; when; where; why you were there; how the problem began. Add duty status, treatment, witnesses, and records. Mark uncertain dates as estimates.
Guard or Reserve: find your orders, dates, duty type, and any line-of-duty records. Active duty, training, and drills have different rules.
Secondary condition: it may start after service. Identify the service-connected condition and evidence that it caused or worsened this problem. A medical opinion may help explain the link.
Started before service? Record what changed during service. Presumptive condition? Check the required diagnosis and service history; qualifying claims do not require separate proof of a link.
Already service connected and seeking an increase? Focus on what has worsened and the records showing it.

If you do not know the cause, say so. Do not guess a medical connection.

Explain what changes in daily life

Describe both what you can do and what becomes difficult. Include how often it happens and how long it lasts.

Describe the actual walking or standing limit on a typical bad day.
Explain whether pain begins with first steps, after prolonged use, or remains constant.
Explain what becomes harder when your foot rolls inward, has thickened skin or swelling, or wears shoes unevenly.
State which supports such as a cane or walker are prescribed and how often you use them.

Common mistakes to avoid

Calling every foot problem an ankle condition
Reporting pain without explaining what happens when you stand or walk
Leaving out records of shoe inserts or prescribed shoes
Minimizing a flare because the exam occurs on a better day

Records to get ready before the exam

Foot Conditions DBQ or relevant treatment records
Foot specialist and bone and joint treatment notes
Weight-bearing X-rays or imaging
Orthotic and prescription-footwear records
Dated photos of calluses, swelling, or unusual shoe wear
A short flare and walking-distance log

Preparation notes

Wear the footwear and bring the support such as a cane or walker you normally use.
Describe symptoms accurately without exaggerating or minimizing.
Do not change treatment or medication use for the exam without clinician guidance.
Make clear which findings affect the right foot, left foot, or both.

Pain, repeated use, and worse periods

Painful motion and loss of ability to use the affected body part: Under 38 CFR §§ 4.40, 4.45, and 4.59, explain where pain begins, the point where movement stops, repeated use, and flare-ups separately. Follow the examiner's safety instructions; say where pain begins and how far you can move; these may be different points.

Important context

Diagnosis not selected. Your copy includes preparation steps, without guessing a percentage. Return here when you have the diagnosis to include its rating rules.

Official rating rule and code numbers

Use this source to check the full rule and its medical terms: 38 CFR 4.71a, DCs 5269 and 5276-5284. Source review recorded 2026-09-04.

Could one health problem have caused another?

A condition VA has already linked to your service may cause another health problem or make it worse. VA calls this secondary service connection. Having both conditions does not prove the link. Your records need to show a current diagnosis and explain how the first condition or its treatment affected the second.

Start with your records. Find the current diagnosis, the condition VA already linked to service, and evidence from someone qualified to explain the connection.
Ask about cause and worsening. Did the first condition or its treatment cause the new disability, or make an existing disability worse? These are different questions. The rules call them causation under 38 CFR § 3.310(a) and aggravation under § 3.310(b). If both are raised by your records, the medical opinion should address both; answering only the cause question may not be enough (El-Amin).
If treatment may be involved, collect the dates. List the medicine or surgery prescribed for the condition VA linked to service, the side effect, and the new diagnosis. Bring pharmacy records and dates when treatment started or stopped. A provider must explain the connection in your case; taking a medicine alone does not prove it.
If weight gain may be involved, ask how it fits. Weight gain or obesity can be a step between the first condition and another diagnosed disability under VAOPGCPREC 1-2017. Obesity itself does not receive a VA disability rating.
You do not need absolute certainty. VA uses the “at least as likely as not” standard and the reasonable-doubt rule under 38 CFR § 3.102. Ask a VA-accredited representative how the evidence applies to your claim.
The same symptom cannot be counted twice. This is the rule against pyramiding in 38 CFR § 4.14. Mental-health diagnoses generally share one § 4.130 rating when they affect the same work and social abilities. Trouble sleeping may be a symptom rather than a separate disability.
Check whether VA already assumes a link to service. Some conditions qualify based on where or when you served. These are called presumptive conditions. Examples can include chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, hypertension after qualifying herbicide exposure, and type 2 diabetes. Sleep apnea (OSA) is not a PACT Act presumptive. Check eligibility before seeking a medical opinion about the link.
An exam form and a medical opinion do different jobs. A Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) records the diagnosis and how severe it is. It may not explain why it is linked to service, often called a nexus. A VA-accredited veterans service organization (VSO) can help you file at no charge.

If another prescribed treatment may have caused a problem, ask your health care provider to record what happened and explain the connection in your case.

Sources: 38 CFR § 3.310 · 38 CFR § 4.14 · VA-accredited representatives

C&P exam for foot conditions: what to expect and how VA rates it.