Rhabdomyolysis VA Disability Rating: DC 5330, C&P Exam, TDIU

The VA rates rhabdomyolysis under Diagnostic Code 5330 in 38 C.F.R. § 4.73, which does not assign a single percentage. Instead, it directs raters to evaluate each muscle group damaged by the condition separately, combine those ratings under 38 C.F.R. § 4.25, and rate any chronic kidney complications separately under the appropriate body system.¹ The percentage a veteran actually receives depends on which analogous code the rater applies, which muscle groups are documented as affected, and how severe the residual symptoms are on examination.

How Diagnostic Code 5330 Works

Because DC 5330 has no built-in percentage, the rating decision comes down to the analogous code the VA chooses. Three approaches show up repeatedly in Board of Veterans’ Appeals decisions.

Muscle Group Codes (DC 5301–5323)

When rhabdomyolysis has caused identifiable damage to specific muscle groups, each group is rated under its own code (DC 5301 through DC 5323). Severity is classified under 38 C.F.R. § 4.56 as slight (0%), moderate (10%), moderately severe (20%), or severe (30%). The rater looks for the “cardinal signs and symptoms of muscle disability”: loss of power, weakness, lowered threshold of fatigue, fatigue-pain, impairment of coordination, and uncertainty of movement.²

In one Board decision, a veteran received a 20% rating under DC 5323 (muscle groups of the side and back of the neck) after a VA examination documented consistent loss of power, weakness, lowered fatigue threshold, and fatigue-pain severe enough to keep him from work or task completion at least six times a month. The Board denied a 30% “severe” rating because he still had 5/5 muscle strength and no visible atrophy or coordination impairment.³

Myositis (DC 5099-5021)

Some ratings are done by analogy under DC 5021 (myositis), which evaluates limitation of motion of the affected body parts, or the condition is treated as degenerative arthritis under DC 5003. A 10% rating requires involvement of two or more major joints or minor joint groups; 20% requires that plus occasional incapacitating episodes.⁴

Fibromyalgia (DC 5025)

When the dominant symptom is widespread, nonspecific muscle pain rather than damage to identifiable muscle groups, the VA may rate rhabdomyolysis by analogy under DC 5025. This code provides 10% for pain that limits motion, 20% when musculoskeletal pain is episodic but present more than one-third of the time, and a maximum 40% when symptoms are constant or nearly constant and resistant to treatment.⁵

The code choice matters. DC 5025 caps out at 40%. Under individual muscle group codes, each affected group can reach 30%, and multiple groups combine. A veteran with several damaged muscle groups can end up higher through the muscle-group route than through the fibromyalgia analogy.

Getting Above a 20% Rating

Most rhabdomyolysis ratings that reach the Board sit between 0% and 20%. Pushing higher takes specific evidence, and what qualifies depends on the code being applied.

Under DC 5025, reaching 40% requires medical evidence that musculoskeletal pain and associated symptoms (fatigue, sleep disturbance, stiffness) are constant or nearly constant and resistant to treatment. If pain is episodic or can be managed by avoiding strenuous activity, the Board has consistently held the condition does not qualify for more than 20%.⁶

Under the muscle group codes, a “severe” 30% per group requires objective findings: palpable loss of deep fascia or muscle substance, muscles that harden abnormally in contraction, severe impairment on strength and endurance tests, visible or measurable atrophy, or diminished electrical excitability.² The Board has repeatedly denied higher ratings when veterans still test at 5/5 strength and show no atrophy, even with significant subjective pain.³

Common obstacles: normal strength testing, no visible muscle wasting, and pain or fatigue that examiners attribute to unrelated conditions like back or knee problems rather than to the service-connected rhabdomyolysis.

Secondary Conditions That Get Their Own Ratings

Rhabdomyolysis complications can qualify for separate ratings that raise the combined disability percentage.

Acute kidney injury is the most serious. It occurs in roughly 10% to 55% of rhabdomyolysis cases depending on severity.⁷ DC 5330 specifically requires chronic renal complications to be evaluated separately.¹ Establishing a kidney disorder as secondary requires a clinical diagnosis of ongoing renal dysfunction, not just abnormal lab numbers. In one case the Board denied kidney-related service connection because, despite elevated CPK levels, the veteran’s kidney function tests were normal and no renal disease had been diagnosed.⁵

Compartment syndrome from persistent elevated pressure within a muscle compartment can cause permanent peripheral nerve damage and irreversible muscle injury. Severe electrolyte disturbances, particularly hyperkalemia, can cause cardiac arrhythmias, and disseminated intravascular coagulation is another possible systemic complication.⁸

Each of these, if clinically diagnosed and linked to the service-connected rhabdomyolysis by a medical nexus opinion, can be rated under its own code. The nexus must establish a 50% or greater probability that the secondary condition is caused or aggravated by the rhabdomyolysis.⁴

Establishing Service Connection

Before any rating is assigned, the veteran must show three things: a current disability, an in-service event or injury, and a medical nexus linking the two. Service treatment records documenting a rhabdomyolysis episode during training or duty are the strongest starting point. Hospitalization records showing elevated CPK, dark urine, or severe muscle pain during service directly support the claim.⁵

When a single in-service diagnosis is not available, veterans can rely on continuity of symptomatology: the condition was noted in service, similar symptoms continued afterward, and medical or lay evidence ties the current disability to those ongoing symptoms. Lay testimony counts as competent evidence for observable symptoms like muscle pain, soreness, and fatigue, but not for complex internal conditions like kidney disease or psychiatric diagnoses.⁵ Secondary service connection under 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 is also available for conditions caused or aggravated by an already service-connected disability.

The C&P Exam

The VA schedules a Compensation and Pension (C&P) exam to evaluate the claim. A healthcare provider reviews medical records, works through the applicable Disability Benefits Questionnaire, and may perform a physical exam or order blood work at no cost.⁹

For rhabdomyolysis, the Board has directed examiners to use both the Muscle Injuries DBQ and the Fibromyalgia DBQ.¹⁰ The Muscle Injuries DBQ contains a specific checkbox for a history of rhabdomyolysis and evaluates 23 muscle groups, scoring strength on a 0/5 to 5/5 scale, documenting cardinal signs of muscle disability, and recording functional impact on work.¹¹ The Fibromyalgia DBQ evaluates widespread pain, stiffness, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and tender points.¹² Both DBQs are on the VA’s website, and reviewing them before the exam shows what evidence the examiner will be looking for. The examiner does not treat the condition, decide the claim, or share results at the appointment. To get a copy of the final exam report, veterans file a Freedom of Information Act request using VA Form 20-10206.⁹

TDIU When Rhabdomyolysis Prevents Work

Total Disability Individual Unemployability pays compensation at the 100% rate when service-connected conditions prevent substantially gainful employment, even if the combined schedular rating is lower. The schedular thresholds are a single disability rated at 60% or more, or a combined rating of 70% or more with at least one disability at 40% or more.¹³ Disabilities from a common etiology or affecting a single body system (such as the musculoskeletal system) are treated as one disability for meeting these thresholds. Veterans who fall short can still be referred for extra-schedular TDIU consideration by the Director of Compensation Service.

Board decisions show TDIU is hard to win on rhabdomyolysis alone. Examiners have found that while it may bar physically strenuous work, it does not necessarily preclude sedentary or light duty.⁶ The strongest TDIU claims typically combine rhabdomyolysis with other service-connected disabilities like PTSD, depression, or hypertension.³

Rhabdomyolysis From VA-Prescribed Medications

Rhabdomyolysis caused by a medication a VA provider prescribed (most often a statin) is not a service connection claim. It falls under 38 U.S.C. § 1151, which allows compensation for additional disability from VA medical treatment when the treatment involved carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment, or an event that was not reasonably foreseeable.¹⁴

These claims are difficult. The veteran needs competent medical evidence, not personal belief, that the medication caused the rhabdomyolysis and that the prescribing decision meets the legal standard for fault or unforeseeability. In one denied case, the Board found statin-induced myopathy symptoms are generally reversible within two to three months after stopping the drug and attributed the veteran’s ongoing symptoms to pre-existing Parkinson’s disease and degenerative disc disease.¹⁴ In another, the Board acknowledged a private neurologist’s opinion attributing muscle damage and rhabdomyolysis to VA-prescribed Rosuvastatin but ordered an independent medical advisory opinion, calling the causation question medically “complex and controversial.”¹⁵

How Medication Affects the Rating After 2026

A February 2026 interim final rule amended 38 C.F.R. § 4.10 to require that VA disability ratings reflect the veteran’s actual functional impairment, including any improvement from medication or treatment. The rule states that examiners “will not estimate or discount improvements to the disability due to the effects of medication or treatment” and that “if medication or other treatment lowers the level of disability, the rating will be based on that lowered disability level.”¹⁶

The rule superseded the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims decision in Ingram v. Collins (2025), which had required examiners to estimate how severe the disability would be without medication. The VA characterized that requirement as forcing “medical speculation” and said it could have affected over 500 diagnostic codes and roughly 350,000 pending claims.¹⁶ For rhabdomyolysis, this means the rating reflects current functional ability while on treatment, not a hypothetical unmedicated baseline.

Monthly Compensation Amounts

Payment depends on the combined disability rating and number of dependents. As of December 1, 2025, basic monthly rates for a veteran with no dependents are:¹⁷

10%: $180.42
20%: $356.66
30%: $552.47
40%: $795.84
50%: $1,132.90
60%: $1,435.02
70%: $1,808.45
80%: $2,102.15
90%: $2,362.30
100%: $3,938.58

Veterans rated at 30% or higher receive additional compensation for dependents, including spouses, children, and dependent parents. Rates are adjusted annually through cost-of-living increases tied to Social Security.

1
eCFR. 38 CFR 4.73 – Schedule of Ratings, Muscle Injuries
2
eCFR. 38 CFR 4.56 – Evaluation of Muscle Disabilities
3
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 21006959
4
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 20072961
5
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 1311463
6
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 1505357
7
Merck Manual. Rhabdomyolysis
8
National Library of Medicine. Rhabdomyolysis
9
Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Claim Exam
10
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 1639849
11
Department of Veterans Affairs. Muscle Injuries Disability Benefits Questionnaire
12
Department of Veterans Affairs. Fibromyalgia Disability Benefits Questionnaire
13
eCFR. 38 CFR 4.16 – Total Disability Ratings for Compensation Based on Unemployability
14
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 1306231
15
Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Citation Nr: 22000764
16
Federal Register. Evaluative Rating Impact of Medication
17
Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Disability Compensation Rates