Each NEL assessment is limited to the specific injury for which compensation is payable. As such, regardless of the number of impairments arising from one injury, one NEL assessment must be undertaken which takes into account all impairments resulting from that injury.

A common example would be where a lumbar spine injury results in sciatic pain, which means the veteran attracts a rating under one table for loss of function in the spine, combined with a rating for the lower limb impairment. Only one NEL assessment is conducted here for the total combined effect of the injury, that is, the multiple impairments.