Knee decisions — 2025

The Board granted an initial 30 percent rating for migraine headaches and an effective date of July 30, 2020, for the grant of service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with agoraphobia, TDIU, DEA benefits, and SMC. Other claims were denied.

The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and dismissed the appeal for hiatal hernia, while remanding claims for right knee and left knee disorders.

The Board denied service connection for various disabilities and denied increased ratings for the Veteran's cervical spine, lumbar spine, and PTSD.

The Board granted an earlier effective date of June 9, 2022 for atopic dermatitis and August 30, 2023 for right knee strain, limitation of extension. The claims for earlier effective dates prior to December 13, 2021 for the assignment of a 20 percent rating for left knee meniscal tear and Baker's cyst and a 10 percent rating for left knee meniscal tear and Baker's cyst, limitation of extension were denied.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for various disabilities, including knee, bladder, OSA, psychiatric, and hypertension, to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors.

The Board denied service connection for cervical spine, right leg, stress, right ankle, right knee, OSA, and left leg disabilities as there was no evidence of a current disability or a link to in-service events.

The Board granted service connection for left knee osteoarthritis, finding it to be a presumptively service-connected form of arthritis and that the Veteran's symptoms persisted from his active duty service.

The Board denied a compensable rating for the left knee scar and remanded further evaluation of the left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome due to inadequate examination reports.

The Board granted an earlier effective date of October 21, 2021 for service connection for right ankle degenerative arthritis and denied a higher initial rating for the same condition. The claim for service connection for a right leg/knee condition was also denied.

The Board denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for lumbar degenerative arthritis prior to September 20, 2021, and granted ratings of 40 percent from September 19, 2019 to December 29, 2020, and 20 percent from March 1, 2021 to September 20, 2021 for the same condition. The claims for service connection for bruxism and a left knee condition were remanded.

The Board granted service connection for recurrent left tibia stress fracture and remanded the claim for a VA examination to determine if the diagnosed left knee DJD with calcaneal spurs is due to service or secondary to the recurrent left tibia stress fracture.

The appeal was dismissed due to a claims processing error.

The Board denied the claims for an earlier effective date and a compensable rating for hypertension, as well as a separate rating for right knee strain, limitation of extension.

The Board denied earlier effective dates for the awards of service connection for a right ankle strain, acne with scars, left foot fracture, right knee tendinopathy, left knee strain, and tinnitus as the first communication from the Veteran to VA evidencing his intent to file claims for these conditions was received on December 5, 2023.

The Board remands the claim for a right knee disability to obtain an addendum opinion that adequately addresses the Veteran's reports and evidence of record.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for PTSD, chronic sinusitis, and restless leg syndrome. The claim for service connection for right knee strain was granted.

The Veteran's PTSD was granted a 70 percent rating prior to June 7, 2019, from the earlier effective date of June 1, 2016, and denied an increased rating in excess of 30 percent for PTSD from June 6, 2014, to June 1, 2016.

The Board remands the issues of service connection for a left knee disability and entitlement to TDIU due to an inadequate VA medical examination.

The Board remands the claims for further development, specifically to obtain retrospective opinions on the Veteran's right and left knee passive range of motion and during weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing based on previous examination reports.

The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, granted a 20 percent disability rating for radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities, and remanded several other claims including those for increased ratings for various disabilities and TDIU.