The most common VA disabilities are a short list: tinnitus, post-traumatic stress disorder, and a handful of joint and spine conditions. What we see readers get wrong most often is treating a common condition and an easy claim as the same thing.

Tinnitus alone is the single most-rated service-connected disability in the country, year after year, according to the Veterans Benefits Administration's Annual Benefits Report. Everything else below sits close behind it: joint and spine wear from physical strain, mental-health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and hearing damage from noise exposure. Below, each condition gets what it is, how VA rates it, and the filing detail that moves the number up or down.

Tinnitus

Tinnitus is chronic ringing, buzzing, or hissing in the ears with no outside sound source, and it is the single most common service-connected disability VA rates. VA evaluates it under Diagnostic Code 6260 in 38 CFR Part 4. The rule is unusually simple: recurrent tinnitus gets a flat 10% rating, whether it is in one ear, both ears, or feels like it is inside your head. Severity does not change the number, and neither does which ear it is in. That flat structure is the detail that surprises first-time filers most, since claiming tinnitus in both ears will not double the rating the way a bilateral knee claim can. The practical move is to file it alongside a hearing loss claim and document the same noise exposure for both, since the same service records usually support each one. Our tinnitus rating guide covers the evidence VA looks for.

Limitation of Flexion of the Knee

Limitation of flexion of the knee measures how far you can bend your knee before pain or stiffness stops you. VA checks it with a goniometer at a Compensation and Pension (C&P) exam. Under Diagnostic Code 5260, VA rates knee flexion in three tiers:

Lost extension is rated separately under its own code. A knee with both limits can be rated for each and then combined, not simply given the higher of the two. That stacking is worth knowing before you file. A knee with painful motion, mild instability, and a torn meniscus can carry three separate ratings. Combined, they add up to a number well above what any single code allows on its own. See our knee disability rating guide for the full breakdown.

Paralysis of the Sciatic Nerve (Sciatica and Radiculopathy)

Sciatic nerve damage, most often diagnosed as sciatica or radiculopathy, is rated under Diagnostic Code 8520 by how much function the leg has lost. The diagnosis name on the chart does not change the number. Diagnostic Code 8520 runs through five tiers of incomplete-to-complete paralysis:

The filing decision that moves the needle most is whether you claim sciatic nerve damage as its own secondary condition tied to a service-connected back injury. Left folded into the back rating as one symptom among several, it often adds nothing to your combined number. Claimed separately, nerve damage in each leg can add its own percentage to your combined rating instead of disappearing into the spine number. Our sciatica rating guide and lower extremity radiculopathy guide walk through both paths.

Lumbar and Cervical Strain (Back Conditions)

Lumbar and cervical strain, along with degenerative disc disease and most other spine diagnoses, are rated under the same General Rating Formula for Diseases and Injuries of the Spine. The number turns on how far you can bend forward, not on which diagnosis is written on the chart:

A back that spasms badly enough to change your gait or flatten your spine's normal curve can reach 20% even when the flexion measurement alone would only support 10%. As covered above, any radiating pain, numbness, or weakness down a leg belongs on its own claim for the sciatic nerve, not buried inside the back rating. See our lumbar spine strain guide and cervical spine strain guide.

PTSD

PTSD is rated under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, the same scale used for depression, anxiety, and most other mental-health claims. The six levels run 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%, based on how much the condition disrupts occupational and social functioning rather than a symptom count. A veteran with only two or three symptoms from the list can still land at 70% if those symptoms wreck the ability to hold a job or keep relationships together. A veteran with many mild symptoms, by contrast, can land lower. The filing note worth acting on: describe function, not feelings, in your statements and at the exam. Missed workdays, jobs lost, and relationships that ended carry more weight than a list of moods. Our PTSD rating guide breaks down each level.

Bilateral Hearing Loss

Bilateral hearing loss does not use a flat percentage rating the way tinnitus does. VA runs your audiogram through a numeric-designation table for each ear, using the puretone average across four frequencies plus your speech discrimination score. It then runs both results through a second table to land on a final percentage from 0% to 100%. Two veterans with nearly identical hearing-test numbers can end up with different combined results, because the tables weight the worse ear more heavily than the better one. The claims that get denied most often are the ones sitting just under a threshold on paper while the veteran still struggles to follow conversation in a noisy room. A buddy statement describing that day-to-day difficulty can support the medical record instead of replacing it. Our bilateral hearing loss guide explains how the tables work.

Limitation of Motion of the Arm

Limitation of motion of the arm is rated under Diagnostic Code 5201 by how high you can raise it, measured from your side:

Which arm is dominant changes the number at the two more severe levels. Marking the wrong arm as dominant on the claim form is a common, avoidable reason a shoulder rating comes back lower than it should. Our shoulder disability rating guide has the full table.

Scars

Scars are rated differently depending on whether they are painful or unstable and how many of them you have, rather than by their cause. Under Diagnostic Code 7804:

A single large scar with underlying tissue damage can also qualify separately under the area-based codes. Those codes run from 10% at 6 square inches up to 40% at 144 square inches or more. Diagnostic Code 7804 counts scars rather than measuring area. The filing move that raises a rating is documenting every scar location at the exam, not just the largest or most visible one. A veteran with several small shrapnel or surgical scars scattered across a limb can end up rated higher than one with a single larger scar in one spot. Our scars rating guide covers 2nd-degree burns and other cases.

Migraines

Migraines are rated under Diagnostic Code 8100 by how often prostrating attacks happen, not by how often you simply get a headache. A prostrating attack is one severe enough to force you to stop and lie down.

That last phrase, "severe economic inadaptability," is why most 50% claims stall. A headache diary alone rarely proves economic impact. Missed shifts, a demotion, or a doctor's note tying time off work to migraine days does the job a diary cannot. Our migraines rating guide covers the evidence that works.

Limitation of Motion of the Ankle

Limitation of motion of the ankle is rated under Diagnostic Code 5271 in two tiers only. Moderate limitation, meaning dorsiflexion under 15 degrees or plantar flexion under 30 degrees, rates at 10%. Marked limitation, under 5 degrees of dorsiflexion or under 10 degrees of plantar flexion, rates at 20%. That 20% ceiling holds no matter how much worse the ankle gets, because Diagnostic Code 5271 only covers limited motion. A veteran whose ankle is fused or effectively frozen in place should be rated under the ankylosis code instead, which can pay well above 20%. A C&P exam that only measures range of motion on a badly damaged ankle can leave real money on the table.

What "Most Common" Doesn't Mean

Being one of the disabilities VA rates most often does not mean a condition is easy to win. Tinnitus moves fast because the evidence needed is simple. PTSD and back-condition claims, both common, are frequently denied over missing nexus evidence or an exam that undercuts the severity being claimed. It also does not mean your case will land at a typical severity. PTSD ratings run the full range from 0% to 100%. Two veterans with the same diagnosis can walk away with ratings 60 points apart, depending on how the condition affects their work and relationships. These conditions are common because millions of veterans developed them during their service, not because VA hands out a particular number for having one.

Whichever of the most common VA disabilities you are filing for, start with how VA calculates a rating in the first place. Then check the exact rule for your condition in the 38 CFR rating schedule before you file.