The Board has granted service connection for low back pain secondary to service-connected bilateral pes planus, bilateral leg shin splints, and bilateral ankle strains. The effective date of the grant of service connection for bilateral pes planus is remanded.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions suggest that the Veteran's service connected disabilities (pes planus, bilateral ankle strains, and bilateral leg shin splints) aggravated his low back pain.
- Claimed conditions
- low back pain, bilateral ankle strains, pes planus
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19106169
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.
- Partly granted
The Board denied increased ratings for the Veteran's back, right ring finger, and left foot hallux valgus disabilities but granted an initial 30 percent rating for pes planus from August 17, 2021, a 50 percent rating for pes planus from December 15, 2023, and a separate 10 percent rating for bilateral plantar fasciitis from August 17, 2021.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a left foot disability to correct a pre-decisional duty to assist error, specifically regarding an inadequate October 2024 VA examination.
- Dismissed
The appeals for service connection and initial ratings were dismissed due to an untimely Notice of Disagreement (NOD) being filed more than one year after the November 2022 rating decision.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for pes planus, bilateral degenerative changes of the feet, bilateral hammertoe deformity, bilateral foot ulcers, and onychomycosis as there was no evidence to support an increase in severity during active service.
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