Citation Nr: 18152844 Decision Date: 11/26/18 Archive Date: 11/26/18 DOCKET NO. 16-50 785 DATE: November 26, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to a rating in excess of 20 percent for lumbar spine disability is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from July 1984 to April 1997. This case comes before the Board of Veteran’s Appeals (Board) on appeal of a June 2014 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). Entitlement to a rating in excess of 20 percent for lumbar spine disability. The Veteran contends that the current severity of his low back disability warrants a higher disability rating. In view of a recent decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court), remand is necessary. In Correia v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 158, 169-170 (2016), the Court held that to be adequate a VA examination of the joints must, wherever possible, include joint testing for pain on both active and passive motion, in weight bearing and non-weight bearing and, if possible, with range of motion measurements of the opposite undamaged joint. In this case, the most recent report of VA examination dated in June 2014 does not reflect the necessary testing or findings. Therefore, remand is necessary for a new VA examination. It is noted that the June 2014 VA examination report reflects that the Veteran’s range of motion testing was incongruous with other medical findings of record and suggested that the Veteran’s effort was suboptimal. The Veteran is cautioned that VA’s duty to assist in the development of a claim is not a one-way street. Wood v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 190 (1991). The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Veteran to complete a VA Form 21-4142 for all medical providers that treated his back disorder since October 2013 to included treatment records from Pain Consultants of West Florida dated from July 2016 to the present. Make two requests for the authorized records from any providers identified, unless it is clear after the first request that a second request would be futile. 2. Schedule the Veteran for an examination of the current severity of his low back disability. The examiner must test the Veteran’s active motion, passive motion, and pain with weight-bearing and without weight-bearing. The examiner must also attempt to elicit information regarding the severity, frequency, and duration of any flare-ups, and the degree of functional loss during flare-ups. To the extent possible, the examiner should identify any symptoms and functional impairments due to low back disability alone and discuss the effect of the Veteran’s low back disability on any occupational functioning and activities of daily living. If it is not possible to provide a specific measurement, or an opinion regarding flare-ups, symptoms, or functional impairment without speculation, the examiner must state whether the need to speculate is due to a deficiency in the state of general medical knowledge (no one could respond given medical science and the known facts), a deficiency in the record (additional facts are required), or the examiner (does not have the knowledge or training). The examiner should also specifically comment on the following: a.) If he is not having a flare up of his back disability at the time of the examination, the Veteran should be asked to identify, to the best of his ability, the limitations of movement of his back when he is having an episode (i.e. whether range of motion is limited to a certain point beyond which he cannot perform flexion, extension, lateral flexion or rotation and where pain begins). b.) The examiner is asked to note results from the Veteran’s private treatment records and opine on any significant differences. All indicated tests and studies are to be performed. A complete rationale should be provided for all opinions given. (Continued on the next page)   3. Readjudicate. C.A. SKOW Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD C. E., Associate Counsel