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Musculoskeletal system

VA rating for degenerative arthritis, diagnostic code 5003

The main instruction inside diagnostic code 5003 is not to rate under it. Arthritis established by X-ray is rated instead on limitation of motion of the joint involved, under that joint's own code. The two percentages 5003 prints apply only where motion is not compensable.

Published 2026-08-21. Last updated 2026-08-24. Written and reviewed under Veteran Health Network's institutional review process.

What each level requires

degenerative arthritis is rated under diagnostic code 5003, which the schedule calls "Degenerative arthritis, other than post-traumatic", at 38 CFR 4.71a.

20%

20 percent requires

In plain English

X-ray evidence involving two or more major joints or two or more minor joint groups, with occasional incapacitating exacerbations.

As written in 38 CFR 4.71a

With X-ray evidence of involvement of 2 or more major joints or 2 or more minor joint groups, with occasional incapacitating exacerbations
10%

10 percent requires

In plain English

X-ray evidence involving two or more major joints or two or more minor joint groups, without the exacerbations.

As written in 38 CFR 4.71a

With X-ray evidence of involvement of 2 or more major joints or 2 or more minor joint groups

Notes the schedule attaches to this code

These are part of the regulation and they change how the criteria above are applied. They are reproduced word for word.

  • Degenerative arthritis established by X-ray findings will be rated on the basis of limitation of motion under the appropriate diagnostic codes for the specific joint or joints involved (DC 5200 etc.). When however, the limitation of motion of the specific joint or joints involved is noncompensable under the appropriate diagnostic codes, a rating of 10 pct is for application for each such major joint or group of minor joints affected by limitation of motion, to be combined, not added under diagnostic code 5003. Limitation of motion must be objectively confirmed by findings such as swelling, muscle spasm, or satisfactory evidence of painful motion. In the absence of limitation of motion, rate as below:
  • Note (1): The 20 pct and 10 pct ratings based on X-ray findings, above, will not be combined with ratings based on limitation of motion.
  • Note (2): The 20 pct and 10 pct ratings based on X-ray findings, above, will not be utilized in rating conditions listed under diagnostic codes 5013 to 5024, inclusive.

Regulation text reproduced from 38 CFR 4.71a, read on 2026-08-21. Read the section at the eCFR. Part 4 is amended on a rolling schedule, so the date above is the date this text was checked and not the date it was written.

A code that mostly sends you somewhere else

Derived from the regulation

The instruction sits above the two percentages rather than in a note. Degenerative arthritis established by X-ray findings is rated on the basis of limitation of motion under the appropriate diagnostic code for the specific joint involved.

Where limitation of motion of that joint is noncompensable under its own code, the instruction provides a 10 percent rating for each major joint or group of minor joints affected by limitation of motion, to be combined rather than added.

It then adds an evidentiary condition: limitation of motion must be objectively confirmed by findings such as swelling, muscle spasm, or satisfactory evidence of painful motion.

Only in the absence of limitation of motion do the two printed evaluations apply: "With X-ray evidence of involvement of 2 or more major joints or 2 or more minor joint groups, with occasional incapacitating exacerbations" at 20 percent and "With X-ray evidence of involvement of 2 or more major joints or 2 or more minor joint groups" at 10.

The two notes that stop double counting

Derived from the regulation

Note (1) states that the 20 and 10 percent ratings based on X-ray findings will not be combined with ratings based on limitation of motion. The X-ray route and the motion route are alternatives, not additions.

Note (2) removes the X-ray ratings from codes 5013 to 5024, a block that includes tenosynovitis, tendinitis and bursitis. Those codes carry their own note directing that they be rated as degenerative arthritis based on limitation of motion of the affected part.

Both notes are doing the same job as 38 CFR 4.14 in the general provisions, which forbids rating the same disability under different diagnoses, but they are doing it with specific numbers attached.

Added in 1950, retitled in 2021

Derived from the regulation

This is one of the oldest codes still in the schedule and its name changed recently.

Appendix A to Part 4 records the amendment history for code 5003 in one line: "Added July 6, 1950; title February 7, 2021."

The Federal Register line below belongs to 4.71a rather than to 5003, which is how a code added in 1950 comes to sit under dates that start in 1964: 29 FR 6718, May 22, 1964, as amended at 34 FR 5062, Mar. 11, 1969; 40 FR 42536, Sept. 15, 1975; 41 FR 11294, Mar. 18, 1976; 43 FR 45350, Oct. 2, 1978; 51 FR 6411, Feb. 24, 1986; 61 FR 20439, May 7, 1996; 67 FR 48785, July 26, 2002; 67 FR 54349, Aug. 22, 2002; 68 FR 51456, Aug. 27, 2003; 69 FR 32450, June 10, 2004; 80 FR 42041, July 16, 2015; 85 FR 76460, Nov. 30, 2020, 85 FR 85523, Dec. 29, 2020, 86 FR 8142, Feb. 4, 2021. Both records were read on 2026-08-21 against the edition current at 2026-08-01.

See every level beside the regulation it comes from

The rating threshold cheatsheet shows all of the levels for degenerative arthritis in one view, plain English on the left and the regulation itself on the right, in a layout built to print.

It is free and it never says which level anyone meets. It describes what each one requires and leaves the reading to the person whose record it is.

Open the rating threshold cheatsheet

Sources

Accuracy owner Brayden Marley. Part 4 is amended on a rolling schedule, so the retrieval date above is what this page is accurate as of.