The Veteran's lumbar sprain/strain is granted service connection, while her bilateral knee disability and hearing loss are denied.
The deciding factor: Service treatment records show the Veteran had complaints of low back pain during active duty. The VA examiner concluded that the current lumbar strain/sprain arose in service due to prolonged sitting injuries sustained during service. For the knee conditions, the VA examiner opined that there was no evidence linking the current condition to service as she did not seek treatment for knee pain until 30 years after service ended.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar sprain/strain, bilateral knee disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 5, 2022
- Citation
- 22026604
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 22026604.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a bilateral shoulder disability and increased ratings for her bilateral knee disabilities, finding no evidence of in-service injury or disease related to these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for a neurological examination to determine if any diagnosed radiculopathy or other neurological disability affecting the lower extremities was caused or aggravated by service-connected conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities were granted effective from January 2, 2022. The Board also remanded other issues including back and skin disorders.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has dismissed the issues of higher initial ratings for service-connected bilateral knee disability, migraine variants, and bilateral hearing loss as well as service connection for generalized anxiety disorder. The issues of service connection for right elbow lateral epicondylitis and left elbow lateral epicondylitis are remanded due to insufficient medical opinions regarding their etiology. Service connection for depression is also remanded due to conflicting diagnoses.
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