If you have a service-connected back or neck condition and you feel pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness radiating into a limb, that may be radiculopathy, and it may be a separate, ratable claim. This guide explains how it connects.
What radiculopathy is
Radiculopathy is nerve pain caused when a spinal condition, such as a herniated disc or narrowing of the spine, compresses a nerve root. The result is pain, numbness, or weakness that travels along the path of that nerve into an arm or leg.
Sciatica is the best-known form, affecting the sciatic nerve into the leg. Cervical (neck) conditions can cause radiculopathy into the arms.
How the VA rates it
Radiculopathy is rated under the nerve diagnostic codes based on which nerve is affected and how severe the impairment is. For the leg, that often means the sciatic nerve (DC 8520). Ratings reflect whether the nerve impairment is mild, moderate, or severe.
Each affected limb is rated separately.
The secondary connection
Because radiculopathy stems from a spine condition, it is typically claimed as secondary to a service-connected back or neck condition (38 CFR 3.310). If your spine condition is already rated, you connect the radiculopathy to it.
This is one of the more reliable ways to raise a combined rating, because a spine condition so often produces nerve symptoms that were never separately claimed.
A real-world example
A veteran with a service-connected back condition had numbness and shooting pain down both legs but had only ever been rated for the back itself. A provider documented the radiculopathy in each leg and connected it as secondary to the spine condition. Each leg was rated separately.