The Board denied service connection for right ankle, left ankle, right foot, and left foot disabilities as the evidence did not establish a link to an in-service injury or disease.
The deciding factor: The claimed conditions were not shown as chronic in service, did not manifest within the applicable presumptive period, and were not otherwise etiologically related to an in-service injury or disease.
- Claimed conditions
- right ankle osteoarthritis, altered gate, and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), left ankle osteoarthritis, altered gate, and chronic pain, right foot osteoarthritis, heel spur, Achilles tendonitis, altered gate, and CRPS, left foot osteoarthritis, heel spur, Achilles tendonitis, altered gate, and CRPS
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 10, 2025
- Citation
- A25050870
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a disability rating of 30 percent but no higher for right foot osteoarthritis and calcaneal spur from April 12, 2016 to April 9, 2021, but denied a higher rating from April 9, 2021.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an earlier effective date of September 27, 2023, for the award of service connection for left ankle osteoarthritis and remanded a claim for a higher disability evaluation.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for allergic rhinitis and remanded the other claims for further development.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities and basic eligibility for Dependents' Educational Assistance beginning November 19, 2015.
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