Ankle decisions — 2025

The Board granted service connection for a left ankle condition, a left knee condition, and a right knee condition based on the evidence showing that these conditions had their onset during the Veteran's military service.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for left and right ankle disabilities to ensure that VA satisfies its pre-decisional duty to assist by obtaining certain outstanding VA treatment records and making reasonable efforts to obtain certain outstanding private treatment records.

The appeal for service connection for a right ankle condition was dismissed due to an improper concurrent election.

The Veteran's November 21, 2024 VA Form 20-0996 Request for Higher-Level Review was timely filed and the Board granted it.

The Board granted service connection for a right ankle condition and a left ankle condition, finding that the Veteran's ankle conditions are related to an in-service injury.

The Board granted a 30 percent rating for right hand strain status-post fracture of the third metacarpal and denied service connection for various other conditions including a right ankle condition, foot disability (torn Achilles tendon), acquired psychiatric disability, ear condition, head injury, left leg disability, and low back disability.

The Board granted a 30 percent rating for headaches with auras and a 10 percent rating for temporomandibular joint disorders, unspecified. Service connection was denied for various conditions including disabilities causing numbness, hearing loss, hip and spine issues, chest pain, dizziness, erectile dysfunction, psychiatric disorder, wrist disability, shortness of breath, ankle and eye pain, and sleep apnea.

The Board granted a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD, effective March 8, 2023, but no earlier. Other claims were denied or remanded.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for various musculoskeletal and joint disorders due to a need for additional evidence and an adequate VA examination.

The Board granted service connection for a cervical spine condition, right ankle condition, and left ankle condition but denied service connection for sinusitis. The rating for the low back condition was also adjusted.

The Board denied increased ratings for the Veteran's right and left ankle disabilities, as well as their corresponding foot conditions, but granted earlier effective dates for the 20 percent disability ratings.

The Board granted a 100 percent rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), but denied service connection for a right ankle disability, an initial compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, a compensable rating for renal insufficiency as a residual of rhabdomyolysis, and other claims.

The Board denied the Veteran's appeal for an earlier effective date of June 7, 2023, for entitlement to service connection for obstructive sleep apnea and right ankle arthritis.

The Board dismissed the claims for service connection for various disabilities, including bilateral hearing loss, right knee, right hand, left knee, right ankle, and residuals of a traumatic brain injury due to untimely appeals or lack of evidence supporting current disability.

The Board granted service connection for sleep apnea, left shoulder bicipital tendon tear, hypogonadism, erectile dysfunction, and left carpal tunnel syndrome. The claims for increased ratings for lumbar spondylosis with facet arthropathy and lumbosacral strain, right hip strain with osteoarthritis, other specified trauma and stressor related disorder, left and right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain, right shoulder rotator cuff tear, left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome, right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome (to include iliotibial band syndrome), and chronic right wrist sprain were denied. The Board also granted an effective date of July 7, 2023 for the award of increased ratings.

The Board denied service connection for vertigo, secondary to tinnitus and a compensable rating for the cesarean section scar. The claims for service connection for left ankle condition, right ankle status post achilles tendon repair, right shoulder condition, left shoulder condition, osteoarthritis of both hips, right wrist condition, and left wrist condition were remanded.

The Board remands the claims for service connection due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error regarding VA's obligation to obtain relevant records from the Social Security Administration.

The Board of Veterans' Appeals remands the issues of service connection for various conditions, including arthritis and Raynaud's syndrome, to obtain additional medical evidence.

The Board granted service connection for degenerative disc disease and right ankle pain as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected bilateral knee patellofemoral syndrome, but denied an earlier effective date for the evaluation of the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for right and left ankle conditions for a new VA opinion due to an inaccurate factual predicate in the previous examination.