The Board remands the matter for an adequate VA examination to determine the nature and severity of the Veteran's service-connected left ankle disability.
The deciding factor: The December 2024 VA ankle examination was found inadequate due to multiple inadequacies, including lack of documentation on functional loss, history of instability, and failure to provide estimations of range of motion during flare-ups.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle sprain, tibiotalar osteoarthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 25, 2025
- Citation
- 25005697
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 granted service connection for left shoulder strain and left ankle sprain, finding that the evidence was in approximate balance showing injuries during active duty training (ADT) from August 12, 2023 to August 25, 2023.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for hypogonadism with fatigue, GERD, and a right ear hearing loss disability. The Veteran's left rib disability was denied, and the ratings for his left shoulder injury, left hip bursitis, impairment of the left thigh, left knee retropatellar pain syndrome limitation of extension, and left ankle sprain were either granted or denied with specific rating percentages.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for left ankle sprain, finding that the Veteran's current condition is causally related to an in-service injury.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed as the Veteran did not timely file a Board Appeal request.
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