The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection and increased rating of his low back, right knee, and left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome disabilities due to a duty to assist error. The VA examinations were inadequate as they did not consider the Veteran's lay statements regarding flare-ups and functional loss/impairment.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations failed to comply with the requirements in Sharp v. Shulkin (2017) which requires an examiner to elicit relevant information about the veteran's flares or provide a rationale for not doing so.
- Claimed conditions
- Low back disability, Right knee disability, Left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 16, 2026
- Citation
- A26035723
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 A26035723.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a low back disability and an increased rating for his acquired psychiatric disorder. The Board found that there was no evidence linking the current disabilities to military service.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected low back disability alone does not prevent him from securing and following a substantially gainful occupation.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a low back disability and bilateral hip disability, finding that there was no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased disability evaluation and effective dates are being remanded due to the need for a new VA examination to address the severity of his low back disability, including whether he has experienced incapacitating episodes of IVDS.
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