The Board remands the claims for increased ratings and earlier effective dates for various joint conditions, cervical spine arthritis, lumbosacral spine arthritis, and radiculopathy of the upper extremities to obtain additional medical opinions.

The deciding factor: The VA medical opinion provided was inadequate to evaluate the Veteran's claims as it did not address specific disability patterns or provide sufficient evidence regarding occupational functioning and daily activities with and without pain medication for the period prior to September 27, 2002.

Claimed conditions

left elbow arthritis (limitation of flexion), left elbow arthritis (impairment of supination and pronation), right elbow arthritis (limitation of flexion), right elbow arthritis (impairment of supination and pronation), left hip arthritis (limitation of flexion), left hip arthritis (limitation of extension), left hip arthritis (impairment of thigh), right hip arthritis (limitation of flexion) under Diagnostic Code 5010-5252, right hip arthritis (limitation of extension), right hip arthritis (impairment of thigh), left shoulder arthritis, right shoulder bursitis with arthritis, left wrist arthritis, right wrist arthritis, left knee arthritis, right knee arthritis, left ankle arthritis, right ankle arthritis, arthritis of the bilateral hands, cervical spine arthritis, lumbosacral spine arthritis

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

None in this decision

Decision date

February 19, 2025

Citation

25002380

Want to see how appeals like this one tend to go? Appeals like mine