The Board has determined that there is no evidence of any chronic disability of the bilateral shoulders, knees, feet, elbows, or hands during active duty service. The Veteran's complaints and diagnoses are not shown to be related to his military service.
The deciding factor: There is no medical evidence showing a chronic disability of the claimed conditions during active duty service or within one year thereafter, nor any competent opinion linking current disabilities to service.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Shoulder Arthritis, Bilateral Knee Arthritis, Bilateral Foot Arthritis, Bilateral Elbow Arthritis, Bilateral Hand Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 14, 2012
- Citation
- 1242832
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 1242832.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
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 claim for an effective date before May 15, 2015, for service connection of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) due to insufficient evidence linking OSA to his bilateral knee condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded due to errors in the rating and service connection determinations for his hearing loss disabilities, shoulder pain, and arthritis. The issues of right ear hearing loss disability, bilateral shoulder pain (right), and residual of pain status-post right rotator cuff tear repair are being addressed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for right and left shoulder disorders due to inadequate compliance with prior remand directives. The Veteran's lay contentions regarding his in-service injuries are considered, but the VA examiner did not provide a rationale for rejecting these contentions despite the Veteran's history of heavy lifting during service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that new examinations are needed for the Veteran's right thumb disability, left leg lymphedema, and bilateral knee arthritis due to incomplete information in previous VA examinations. The TDIU claim is also remanded as it could significantly impact these issues.
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