Osteoarthritis (degenerative arthritis) Board decisions

The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include alcohol use disorder, mood disorder, and anxiety disorder secondary to traumatic brain injury (TBI), but denied service connection for right ear hearing loss, a left eye condition, cervical spine degenerative arthritis, spondylosis, and bilateral wrist tendonitis.

The Board remands the veteran's claims for increased ratings and TDIU due to outstanding SSA disability benefit records.

The Board granted an effective date of April 7, 2008, for the award of service connection for cervical spine degenerative arthritis, lumbar spine degenerative arthritis, and left lower extremity radiculopathy.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for a sleep disorder, low back disability, and left lower extremity disability to ensure that VA's duty to assist is properly fulfilled.

The Board granted service connection for a back disability, left knee disability, and right knee disability. The claims for service connection for left ankle joint pain, right ankle joint pain, increased rating for bilateral pes planus, heart disability, and earlier effective date were remanded.

The Board remands the claim for a new opinion considering the Veteran's lay statements, as the previous VA examination and opinion were found inadequate.

The Board remands the claims for a VA examination to determine the nature and likely etiology of the Veteran's gastrointestinal disorder, to include irritable bowel syndrome with chronic constipation, and left knee disorder, to include joint patellofemoral osteoarthritis.

The Board granted service connection for status post arthroplasty, left knee; right knee degenerative arthritis; and a low back disability, with an effective date of January 28, 2019.

The Board granted service connection for the right foot condition and denied an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for the lumbar spine condition, while remanding the claim for a right ankle injury.

The Board remands the claim for a lumbar spine disorder for new VA examinations to address the Veteran's lay reports of back pain since service and the inaccuracies in previous medical opinions.

The Board restored a 40 percent disability rating for the Veteran's degenerative arthritis of the spine, effective March 25, 2021, and denied an evaluation in excess of 40 percent.

The Board granted service connection for GERD, a right knee disability, a right wrist disability, a right ankle disability, gastritis, and vertigo. It denied service connection for hearing loss and left knee osteoarthritis ratings.

The appeal of entitlement to service connection for left hip osteoarthritis, claimed as left hip fracture residuals, is dismissed due to the Veteran's death during the pendency of the appeal.

The Board granted service connection for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine and left and right lower extremity radiculopathy, but denied service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability.

The veteran was granted a total disability evaluation based on individual unemployability (TDIU) effective August 7, 2023, and the Board remanded issues related to increased evaluations for degenerative arthritis of the spine and TDIU prior to January 30, 2017.

The Board granted a 20 percent rating for right lower extremity (RLE) sciatic nerve radiculopathy from March 1, 2020, to August 4, 2020, and denied a rating in excess of 20 percent for thoracolumbar spine degenerative arthritis with stenosis during the same period. The Board also denied other claims including service connection for residuals of head injury, traumatic brain injury (TBI), an initial compensable rating for posterior trunk scar, and effective dates prior to November 1, 2020, for separate ratings for sciatic and femoral nerve radiculopathies.

The Board denied earlier effective dates for service connection and increased ratings for various conditions, except for an earlier effective date of November 10, 2020, for service connection for GERD.

The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches and lumbar spine degenerative arthritis, as well as a 20% rating for cervical spine degenerative arthritis. The claims for increased ratings for upper extremity radiculopathy were denied.

The Board denied service connection for low back pain, left and right sciatic radicular pain, bilateral tinea pedis, and a compensable rating for chronic headaches due to the lack of evidence supporting an etiological relationship between these conditions and the Veteran's active-duty service.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for degenerative arthritis of the right hip and osteitis pubis to correct duty to assist errors that occurred prior to the rating decision on appeal.