The Board has granted service connection for lumbosacral strain with L1 wedging and bilateral heel contusions, but denied service connection for stress fracture of the dorsum of the right foot. The veteran's bilateral heel contusions are currently rated as noncompensably disabling.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner diagnosed the veteran with traumatic bilateral heal contusions with stress fracture of the left os calcaneus with no residuals, and noted that it was possible that the veteran had bilateral heel stress fractures in service even though x-rays were negative at that time. The examiner also discussed how the heels may have contributed to right ankle pain and could have greatly affected the veteran's back especially after the veteran fell and injured his back.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral heel contusions, lumbosacral strain with L1 wedging, stress fracture of the dorsum of the right foot
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- December 18, 2006
- Citation
- 0639373
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,458 · Granted: 24% (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 0639373.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has ordered a remand to clarify the nature of the Veteran's current heel disabilities and determine if they are related to his active duty service. The case will be returned for further development.
- Denied
The Board finds that the Veteran does not have a current disability of either his left arm or bilateral heels, and thus service connection for these conditions is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The case is being remanded for additional development, including obtaining copies of June 2003 examination reports and re-adjudicating the claims.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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