The Board has granted service connection for a left ankle strain, finding that the Veteran's current condition is related to an in-service injury and granting the claim on a direct basis.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found the Veteran's ankle strain was less likely caused by his service due to lack of post-service treatment. However, a private provider provided a positive nexus opinion based on the Veteran's medical history and credible lay reports.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 27, 2026
- Citation
- A26007159
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 A26007159.
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 Veteran's annual clothing allowance for a foot and ankle brace in the 2022 calendar year was denied because the evidence did not show that any such brace tended to wear out or tear his clothing.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for left ankle strain, finding that there is clear and unmistakable evidence that the condition preexisted active service and was not aggravated by service. The appeal is dismissed.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for left ankle strain, left knee strain, and bilateral hip strain due to a lack of etiology opinions in the record.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board is remanding the cases due to an incomplete record and a need for additional information regarding applications filed prior to March 9, 2020.
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