Filing a Flat Feet (Pes Planus) Claim

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This is general education, not legal or claims advice, and not guidance for your specific claim. It cannot promise you a rating or an outcome, and no one can. For help with your own claim, see a free accredited representative (see Get free, accredited help below). Nothing here creates a representative relationship.

Current as of October 2026. Rules, forms, and figures change. Check current details at va.gov.

The best way to use this guide

The strongest position is to be your own informed advocate and to work with a free accredited representative. An accredited Veterans Service Organization, such as the DAV, VFW, American Legion, or a county or state veterans office, helps at no charge. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can help too. They can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim, and after that they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. This guide is here so you understand your own situation and can work with them as a full partner instead of handing it over blind. If you'd rather handle this yourself, and you're comfortable doing that, the guide walks you through every step. Either way, you stay in control.

What you'll get done

The outcome: By the end of this guide you'll file a flat feet claim on VA Form 21-526EZ on the path that fits your record: direct if your feet were sound at entry, or aggravation if flat feet were noted at entry and got worse in service.

This guide prepares you for the task. It doesn't and can't promise a rating, a percentage, or an outcome. The evidence in your file decides the result.

What you need before you start

• Internet access for VA.gov, or the VA phone line at 1-800-827-1000.
• A current pes planus (flat feet) diagnosis.
• Your entrance exam, if you can get it, to show what your feet looked like at induction.
• Records of symptoms, orthotics, and treatment during and after service.
• A note of whether one foot or both are affected.
• Your VA file number, if you have one.

When to start: Today. Once VA has your Intent to File, you have one year to send the complete claim, and VA treats the claim as filed on the Intent to File date. If you file within a year of leaving service, the effective date can reach back to the day after discharge. Otherwise it's usually the date VA gets the claim (or the Intent to File date), or the date the condition arose if that's later.

Start here: the basics

VA rates acquired flat feet (pes planus) under Diagnostic Code 5276. The levels look at where your weight line falls, pain on use and when the foot is handled, swelling, calluses, deformity, how the Achilles tendon bows or spasms, and whether shoes or arch supports help. If supports relieve the symptoms, that's the lowest, non-compensable level. At the moderate level, one foot and both feet rate the same. At the severe and pronounced levels, both feet rate higher than one.

Flat feet have one wrinkle most foot claims don't. Many people have flat feet before they enlist. The law presumes you were sound at entry unless your entrance exam recorded the problem. If the exam didn't note flat feet, VA can only say they came before service with clear and unmistakable evidence that they did and that service didn't make them worse. If the exam did note flat feet, the question is whether they got worse during service. If they did, VA presumes service aggravated them unless clear and unmistakable evidence shows it was the natural course of the condition. This guide prints no percentages. See how VA rates conditions at va.gov.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 4.71a, DC 5276; 38 CFR § 3.304(b); 38 CFR § 3.306.

The steps

Step 1. File an Intent to File.

This is the same first step as every VA claim. It holds your start date for one year while you gather evidence. How to file an Intent to File, step by step.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 3.155(b).

Done when you have a confirmation saved.

Step 2. Find out what your entrance exam said.

How. Get your induction physical if you can. Only what's written in the exam report counts as noted at entry.

If the entrance exam noted flat feet, then build an aggravation claim: show the feet got worse during service, with records of sick call, profiles, or new orthotics. If it didn't note them, then build a direct claim, and you're presumed to have had sound feet at entry. If a provider or VA calls your flat feet congenital, then take it to a free accredited representative, because the rules for congenital defects are different.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 3.304(b); 38 CFR § 3.306; 38 CFR § 3.303(c).

Done when you know whether flat feet were noted at your entrance exam and which path fits.

Step 3. Document current severity and both feet.

How. Have a provider record pain on use and on handling the foot, swelling, calluses, alignment, the Achilles tendon, and whether shoes or arch supports help. Make sure the record says whether one or both feet are affected.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 4.71a, DC 5276.

Done when you have a current record of severity and which feet are involved.

Step 4. Show the in-service onset or worsening.

How. Gather records, or write a statement, about the marching, rucking, and standing, and any sick-call visits, profiles, or new orthotics during service. Statements from people who served with you can help on VA Form 21-10210.

Done when you have evidence of onset or worsening during service.

Step 5. Get the medical opinion for your path.

How. For a direct claim, ask a provider whether your flat feet are at least as likely as not related to service. For aggravation, ask the provider to describe how your feet were at entry and how they changed during service. VA may also get an opinion at your C&P exam.

Done when you have a written opinion that matches your path, or you know VA will get one.

Step 6. File the 21-526EZ, state the path, and confirm it arrived.

How. Name pes planus, say one or both feet, and say whether you're claiming direct service connection or aggravation. Attach the entrance exam, current records, and any opinion. File online at VA.gov, or mail it to Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444. About 10 days later, check VA.gov or call 1-800-827-1000 to confirm every document is in your file.

Done when the claim names the condition, the feet, and the path, and you've confirmed VA has everything.

Step 7. Get ready for the exam VA schedules.

How. Describe pain on standing and walking, swelling, and which shoes or supports you use and whether they help. Be accurate about both what helps and what doesn't.

Done when you've gone to the exam ready to describe your symptoms plainly.

Recap checklist

• Filed an Intent to File and saved the confirmation.
• Checked the entrance exam to pick direct or aggravation.
• Documented current severity and one or both feet.
• Showed in-service onset or worsening.
• Got a medical opinion that matches my path, or know VA will get one.
• Filed the 21-526EZ stating the path and confirmed VA has everything.
• Went to the exam ready to describe my symptoms.

Reminder: rules and rates change. Check any current figure at va.gov. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Organization is free. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim. After that, they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. This guide prepared you for the task. The evidence in your file decides the result.

Go further

• The book: VA Back, Knee, and Joint Claims Guide, the full guide this one comes from. Coming soon as a PDF on this site and in Kindle and paperback on Amazon.
• The workbook: The Back, Knee, and Joint Workbook, a fillable PDF. Coming soon.
• Free toolkit: the worksheets that go with VA Back, Knee, and Joint Claims Guide. No signup.

Get free, accredited help

For anything about your own claim, talk to an accredited representative. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Organization is free. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim. After that, they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. Free help is available through Veterans Service Organizations such as the DAV, VFW, and American Legion, and through county and state veterans offices.

To find one near you, visit va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative. Representation begins only when you sign VA Form 21-22 (for a Veterans Service Organization) or 21-22a (for an individual agent or attorney). With one rare exception for a single unpaid case, only accredited people can represent you before the VA, and only an accredited agent or attorney can charge you a fee. Nothing in this guide creates that relationship.

A warning about claim sharks. Anyone who offers to file your initial claim for a fee, or who guarantees you a rating or a percentage, is selling something you shouldn't buy. Accredited Veterans Service Organizations help at no charge, and accredited claims agents and attorneys may charge only after VA issues its initial decision, within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. Report predatory companies to the VA Office of Inspector General at 1-800-488-8244.

About this guide

This guide is education, not representation. It explains how part of the VA system works so you can handle your own business with confidence. It is not legal or claims advice, and reading it does not create any representative relationship between you and the author. The author is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nothing here is endorsed by the VA.

This guide prints no live VA dollar figures and no rating percentages on purpose, because they change. Before you make a decision based on any number, check the current figure at va.gov. No book can promise you a rating; the evidence in your file decides the result. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Officer is always free.

Details

• PDF, US Letter, 8 pages including the cover
• 13 fillable checkboxes
• Current as of October 2026

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Never a cut of your claim.

About the author: J. Erickson is a service-disabled Air Force veteran. He served as a military firefighter and as a veteran service officer, where he spent years walking veterans through the same claims process he writes about now. He holds an MBA and writes plain-language guides for veterans who want to understand the system without a translator.