Ankle decisions — 2025

The Board granted service connection for a left shoulder disability, radiculopathy of the right and left arms as secondary to cervical spine strain, chronic sinusitis, left ankle strain, cervical spine strain, and lumbar strain. An initial rating was assigned for each condition.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for a left-hand, right-hand, low back, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and left ankle disability to ensure that VA's duty to assist is followed.

The Board denied service connection for the veteran's claimed conditions, including peripheral neuropathy of both upper extremities, left ankle disability, right ankle disability, low back disability, right hip disability, and left hip disability, as there was no evidence of current disabilities or a causal relationship between the in-service events and the claimed conditions.

The Board denied service connection for a left ankle disability, finding the evidence did not support a causal relationship between the in-service injury and the current condition.

The appeal for service connection for bilateral hearing loss was dismissed due to an untimely Notice of Disagreement. The claims for service connection for left ankle, right ankle, cervical spine, and left tinea pedis disabilities were remanded for further development.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for various conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disorder and bilateral pes planus to the AOJ for additional development.

The Board remands the evaluation of the Veteran's service-connected left ankle sprain for a new VA examination to comply with Correia v. McDonald, as the previous examination did not include weight-bearing and non-weightbearing range-of-motion measurements.

The Board denied service connection for most conditions but granted readjudication of the left knee condition due to new and relevant evidence.

The Board denied increased ratings for asthma with COPD, bilateral hearing loss, cervical spine degenerative arthritis, lumbar spine degenerative arthritis, left and right knee disabilities, and left and right ankle disabilities. However, TDIU was granted.

The Board granted service connection for a right pelvis disability but denied service connection for heart, skin, ankle, and chronic fatigue syndrome disabilities.

The Board granted service connection for right knee tendonitis/tendonosis with degenerative arthritis and restored the 20 percent rating for left ankle degenerative arthritis effective July 1, 2020.

The Board granted an effective date of September 29, 2009, for the award of service connection for tinnitus but denied revisions to prior rating decisions due to CUE.

The Board denied service connection for right ear hearing loss and remanded claims for diabetes mellitus, Type II (DM II), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), bilateral eye disability, to include glaucoma and cataract, and a right ankle disability.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for earlier effective dates and initial compensable ratings, as well as service connection for various conditions, except for a scar related to a laminectomy which was granted with an effective date of March 22, 2021.

The Board dismissed the Veteran's appeals for increased ratings and a compensable rating due to procedural defects.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service-connected right ankle degenerative arthritis status post ankle fracture, right shoulder status post labrum tear repair, and tinnitus, as there was no prior communication regarding a claim for disability benefits.

The Board granted service connection and initial disability ratings for the veteran's psychiatric disorder, back disability, bilateral leg radiculopathy, right shoulder, right knee, left ankle, and irritable bowel syndrome.

The Board granted service connection for a psychiatric disability and assigned a 100% rating. The left ankle degenerative arthritis was rated at 30% from October 1, 2017.

The Board granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea, to include as secondary to service-connected asthma, chronic sinusitis, and allergic rhinitis. The claims for hypertension and right ankle condition were remanded for further development.

The Board granted service connection for left eye chronic conjunctivitis, dry eye syndrome, lumbar spine degenerative disc disease, and right ankle sprain. Service connection was denied for a right hand status post laceration disorder, neck disorder, dental trauma and gingivitis, back disability, right knee degenerative joint disease, left knee degenerative joint disease, pelvic fracture, and left eye disability.