Ankle decisions — 2025

The Board denied service connection for right wrist, left ankle, and bilateral foot disorders due to the lack of evidence supporting current disabilities.

The Board granted earlier effective dates for service connection and a higher disability rating for the Veteran's psychiatric condition.

The Board denied an initial compensable rating for the left knee surgical scar and remanded higher rating claims for the left knee meniscal tear with surgical repair and residuals of patellofemoral syndrome, to include degenerative arthritis, as well as a right ankle degenerative arthritis.

The Board denied service connection for a back disability, left hip disability, left knee disability, and right ankle disability. However, it granted service connection for a right hip strain and a right knee strain, and denied service connection for sleep apnea.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for insomnia disorder with alcohol use disorder, right ankle strain, and left ankle strain as the evidence did not support a higher disability rating.

The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including a bilateral foot condition, left and right ankle conditions, hand conditions, knee conditions, shoulder conditions, wrist conditions, and a back condition, as the evidence did not show current diagnoses or that these conditions were related to active duty.

The Board denied entitlement to increased ratings for the Veteran's low back disability, left ankle disability, and lower extremity radiculopathy, as well as a TDIU.

The Board denied increased ratings for left and right shin splints and bilateral pes planus, but granted service connection for a right ankle disability.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for left and right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain (chronic/recurrent) to allow the Regional Office to readjudicate them based on all evidence of record.

The Board granted service connection for a left foot condition and a right foot condition, but denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss, otitis media, cervical spine condition, thoracolumbar spine condition, left ankle condition, and right ankle condition.

The appeal was denied for an initial compensable rating for hypertension, and the issues of service connection for liver nodules, lung nodules, right foot disorder, and right ankle disorder were remanded.

The Board granted service connection for PTSD and a kidney condition, to include kidney cancer. The remaining conditions were remanded due to the need for additional evidence.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for a higher rating for bilateral pes planus and service connection for a right ankle disorder, among other issues.

The Board granted service connection for the Veteran's left knee, right knee, left ankle, and low back conditions as secondary to his service-connected right ankle sprain with tenosynovitis.

The Board denied service connection for left ankle degenerative joint disease, right ankle degenerative joint disease, and lumbosacral strain as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions began during active service or are otherwise related to an in-service injury.

All appeals for higher ratings, decreased ratings, and service connection claims have been dismissed as the Veteran has already appealed these issues to the Board.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, residuals of back injury, residuals of excision of ingrown toenail, left ankle sprain, and pseudofolliculitis on face to obtain additional medical opinions.

The Board granted service connection for a left ankle condition and a right ankle condition, finding that the evidence was at least evenly balanced as to whether these conditions were incurred in active service.

The Board denied increased ratings for the Veteran's low back and left ankle disabilities, granted a 20% rating for left lower extremity radiculopathy from April 14, 2023, to October 11, 2023, and granted an earlier effective date of January 14, 2016, for the grant of service connection for left lower extremity radiculopathy.

The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include depression and insomnia, as there was no evidence of a current diagnosis. The claims for initial ratings greater than 10 percent for various knee and hip disabilities were remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions.