Pes Planus and Plantar Fasciitis VA Ratings: Live DC 5276 and 5269

If a website still rates plantar fasciitis as "moderate / moderately severe / severe" under 5284, it missed the rewrite.

Two diagnoses, two jobs

Pes planus is a foot-shape and weight-bearing-line problem. The live 5276 rows talk about pronation, the Achilles tendon, plantar tenderness, swelling on use, callosities, and whether orthopedic shoes or appliances help.

Plantar fasciitis is heel-and-arch pain from the plantar fascia. Live 5269 does not grade deformity. It grades whether there is relief from both non-surgical and surgical treatment, and whether one foot or both are involved.

You can have both. You cannot automatically be paid twice for the same pain in the same part of the same foot. 4.14 still applies. If the only manifestation is plantar surface pain, a rater may treat one code as predominant. If one foot is a collapsed arch with callosities and the other problem is a fascia that did not respond to surgery, those are different facts.

Live DC 5276: acquired flatfoot

Fetched from 38 CFR 4.71a, eCFR issue date 2026-08-10.

5276 Flatfoot, acquired

The 10 percent row is already "bilateral or unilateral." You do not get a second 10 for the other foot at the moderate level. The 20/30 and 30/50 splits are where two feet change the number.

"Pronounced" is a pile of objective findings, plus no improvement from orthopedic shoes or appliances. A veteran who does better in a good boot is not in that sentence. "Severe" wants marked deformity you can see, accentuated pain on manipulation and use, swelling on use, and characteristic callosities. A normal-looking foot with morning heel pain is not 5276 severe. It may not be 5276 at all.

Mild, relieved by a built-up shoe or arch support, is 0. That is a real row. It is the schedule saying the appliance worked.

Live DC 5269: plantar fasciitis

5269 Plantar fasciitis

The default plantar row is 10, one foot or both. The 20 and 30 are the no-relief-after-both-kinds-of-treatment rows. Night splints, stretching, injections, and physical therapy are non-surgical treatment. Surgery that did not help, plus failed non-surgical care, is the upper fork. Note (2) covers the veteran who was told to have surgery and medically cannot.

Loss of use of the foot is 40. That is a high bar. It is not "I limp in the morning."

Live DC 5284, so nobody uses it by accident

5284 Foot injuries, other

5284 is the leftover foot-injury code. It is not the plantar-fasciitis code anymore. If the disability is specifically plantar fasciitis, 5269 is the live code. If the disability is pes planus, 5276 is the live code. 5284 is for other foot injuries that do not have their own number.

Bilateral factor, without retelling VA math

38 CFR 4.26 says that when a partial disability results from disease or injury of both arms, or of both legs, or of paired skeletal muscles, the ratings for the right and left sides are combined as usual, and 10 percent of that combined value is added (not combined again) before further combinations. It applies only when there is a compensable disability in each of two paired extremities.

4.26(a) is explicit that "legs" includes the feet. A compensable right-foot rating and a compensable left-foot rating are paired extremities. A single 5276 bilateral 30 is already one number for both feet. You do not then invent two 30s and run 4.26 on top of a table that already paid the second foot.

Where 4.26 often does matter is two separate compensable foot codes, one on each side, or a foot on one side and another compensable disability of the other leg. 4.26(c) says it is not applicable unless each paired extremity is compensable. A 0 percent 5276 on the left and a 10 percent 5269 on the right is not a bilateral-factor pair.

4.26(d), added in 2023, says if including a bilateral disability in the bilateral-factor calculation produces a lower combined evaluation than leaving it out, VA uses the more favorable math.

The actual combining arithmetic, the 4.25 table, and the examples live in the percentages-chart article. This post will not rebuild that table. If you need the combined number, use that chart and 4.26 together. Do not add 10 percent of each foot as a folk rule.

Evidence that belongs in the file

For 5276:

• Weight-bearing photos or exam notes that show pronation, abduction, or the weight-bearing line relative to the great toe.
• Achilles alignment and whether manipulation produces spasm.
• Callosities, swelling on use, and plantar tenderness.
• What shoes, orthotics, or appliances were tried, and whether they improved the condition.

For 5269:

• The plantar-fasciitis diagnosis, not just "heel pain."
• Non-surgical treatment tried, with dates.
• Surgery, or a recommendation for surgery and why the veteran is not a candidate (Note (2)).
• Whether one foot or both still have no relief.

For both:

• Which foot, or both.
• How walking, standing, and work shoes actually go after a full day, not only at 0700.
• Any diabetic or neurologic foot problem that is a different code (7913 Note (1) territory), so it is not forced into 5276.

A drugstore insole you wore for a week is not a full appliance trial. A surgical report that never mentions the plantar fascia is not 5269 surgery.

What the C&P actually measures

The foot exam is an objective-deformity exam for 5276 and a treatment-response exam for 5269.

Expect:

• Observation of the arch on weight-bearing.
• Pronation, Achilles line, calluses, swelling.
• Palpation of the plantar fascia insertion.
• Pain on manipulation and after use, if the examiner bothers to ask about use.
• Assistive devices and whether they help.
• Surgical history.

The examiner is not required to watch you walk a mile. If the 5276 fight is swelling on use and accentuated pain after standing, the treatment notes from the end of a work week may show more than a 20-minute exam.

No magic words. "Pronounced" is a cluster of findings, not a self-score.

Quick answers

Is plantar fasciitis still rated under 5284?

Not as the dedicated code. Live 4.71a has DC 5269 for plantar fasciitis. 5284 is still "foot injuries, other."

What is the default plantar-fasciitis rating?

Live 5269 says "otherwise, unilateral or bilateral," 10 percent, unless the no-relief-after-both-treatments rows or the loss-of-use note apply.

Does bilateral pes planus automatically add the 4.26 bilateral factor?

Not on top of a 5276 row that is already written as bilateral. 4.26 is for compensable ratings of paired extremities that are being combined. See 4.26 and the percentages-chart post for the math.

Can I hold 5276 and 5269 on the same foot?

Only if the manifestations are not the same pain counted twice. 4.14 applies. Different findings (deformity and callosities versus failed fascia surgery) are the separable version.

What if surgery was recommended but I cannot have it?

5269 Note (2) says evaluate under the 20 or 30 percent criteria, whichever applies.

Is mild flatfoot 10 percent?

No. Live 5276 mild, symptoms relieved by built-up shoe or arch support, is 0. Moderate is 10.

Sources

• 38 CFR 4.71a, DCs 5269, 5276, 5284: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/part-4/section-4.71a
• 38 CFR 4.26 (bilateral factor): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/part-4/section-4.26
• 38 CFR 4.14: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/part-4/section-4.14
• 38 CFR 4.25 (combined ratings; see also the percentages-chart post)
• Percentages chart on this site: /blog/va-disability-percentages-chart

Educational content only. Not legal or medical advice. Confirm against the veteran's actual notice and current eCFR / VA.gov. For claim-specific help, use a VA-accredited VSO, claims agent, or attorney.