The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for right ankle sprain and left knee repairs due to inadequate VA examinations, lack of functional impairment assessment during flare-ups or repeated use, and need for new evidence.
The deciding factor: The examination reports are not compliant with VA guidelines and do not provide specific range of motion findings during pain, flare-ups, and repetitive use scenarios.
- Claimed conditions
- Right ankle sprain, Left knee anterior cruciate ligament, lateral collateral ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, and medial meniscus repairs
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19106818
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 122 · 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 19106818.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted a rating of 30 percent for the Veteran's right ankle sprain with pain and limitations in mobility, finding that his symptoms are functionally equivalent to ankylosis. The Veteran is not entitled to a higher rating as there is no evidence of actual ankylosis or ankylosis equivalent.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the appellant's right ankle sprain is related to an injury sustained during service and grants the claim for service connection.
- Denied
The Veteran's TDIU claim was denied because the evidence did not show that his service-connected PTSD rendered him unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal for increased ratings on several issues, including right ankle sprain and lumbosacral strain, has been remanded due to insufficient evidence in the record.
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