The Veteran's DJD of the left knee has been rated at 20 percent, but his condition does not warrant a higher rating as there is no evidence of ankylosis, dislocated or removed cartilage, tibia or fibular impairment, genu recurvatum, or instability. The pain and functional loss do not meet criteria for a higher rating.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's left knee flexion has been limited to at most 62 degrees, which does not warrant a higher rating under Diagnostic Code 5260. No other diagnostic codes are applicable as the Veteran does not have ankylosis, dislocated or removed cartilage, tibia or fibular impairment, genu recurvatum, or instability.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) of the left knee
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- December 4, 2019
- Citation
- 19190991
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,037 · Granted: 21% (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 19190991.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied an increased disability rating in excess of 10 percent for left knee DJD from October 1, 2008 to August 30, 2010 due to the lack of evidence showing limitation of flexion or extension that would warrant a higher rating.
- Granted
The Board granted an initial 30 percent rating for the Veteran's service-connected DJD of the left knee and left knee lateral instability, from December 15, 2009, to September 5, 2014.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter to obtain a new VA medical opinion regarding the severity of the left knee DJD without the ameliorative effects of medication during the limited appeal period.
- Partly granted
The Board denied increased ratings for DJD and instability of both knees but granted separate 20 percent ratings for dislocated semilunar cartilage in the left and right knees.
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