The Board has granted a 20 percent evaluation for the service-connected lumbar spine sprain, but denied increased evaluations for patellar tendonitis of both knees.
The deciding factor: The appellant's disability of the lumbar spine is manifested by limitation of motion and pain, which more closely approximates the criteria for a 20 percent rating under Diagnostic Code 5292. The knee disabilities do not meet the criteria for any higher evaluation as they are currently noncompensable.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine sprain, patellar tendonitis of the right knee, patellar tendonitis of the left knee
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- March 6, 2003
- Citation
- 0303834
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 244 · Granted: 30% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0303834.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and a TDIU, finding that his lumbar spine disability did not warrant higher ratings and that he was capable of obtaining and maintaining substantially gainful employment prior to July 25, 2017, but not since.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issues of entitlement to a higher disability evaluation for lumbar spine sprain and entitlement to TDIU due to insufficient evidence regarding the severity of the Veteran's condition, particularly concerning the effects of medication on his range of motion.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a compensable disability rating for anatomical loss or injury of the mouth, lips, or tongue and remanded service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and higher evaluation for patellar tendonitis of the left knee.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a total disability rating on the basis of individual unemployability (TDIU) due to service-connected disabilities, finding that his combined schedular rating was 100 percent and he had not demonstrated that any single service-connected disability rendered him unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment.
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