Citation Nr: 18160184 Decision Date: 12/26/18 Archive Date: 12/26/18 DOCKET NO. 17-04 042 DATE: December 26, 2018 ORDER Service connection for a left knee disability is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s left knee disabilities, to include degenerative joint disease (DJD) and Osgood-Schlatter disease, neither began during nor was otherwise caused by his military service, and were not diagnosed within a year of separation. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a left knee disability are not met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service from January 1980 to January 1983. Service Connection The Veteran is seeking service connection for his left knee disabilities, which he believes, resulted from his time in military service. Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service (nexus). Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may also be established with certain chronic diseases based upon a legal presumption by showing that the disease manifested itself to a degree of 10 percent disabling or more within one year from the date of separation from service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309(a). The service treating records (STRs) show that the Veteran had complaints, of and treatment for, shin splints in March 1980, but the x-rays at that time showed no shin fracture. His separation physical did not note any knee problems. The VA treatment records are silent for any treatment or complaints for the Veteran’s left knee. There is no record suggesting that the Veteran had a left knee disability within one year after separation from service. The Veteran was afforded a VA examination in March 2016, at which the examiner diagnosed the Veteran with DJD and Osgood-Schlatter disease in his left knee. Subsequently in October 2016, the examiner provided a medical opinion that it was less likely than not (less than 50 percent probability) that the Veteran’s left knee disabilities incurred in or were otherwise caused by an in-service injury, event or illness. The examiner noted the shin splints in service, but ultimately concluded that the Veteran’s left knee disabilities (DJD and Osgood-Schlatter disease) were less likely than not caused by shin splints because in the current medical literature, shin splints were not known to cause the development of either DJD or Osgood-Schlatter’s disease. The examiner’s opinion has not been challenged or contradicted by other medical evidence, and it is rendered after a comprehensive in person examination of the Veteran and grounded in the evidence of record. As such, the opinion is afforded great probative value. Moreover, this evidence makes it less likely than not that the Veteran’s left knee disabilities (DJD and Osgood-Schlatter disease) either began during or was otherwise caused by his military service, to include as a result of shin splints occurred in service. While the Veteran believes his left knee disability is the result of his service, such a determination is a medically complex question, and the Veteran lacks the medical training or expertise to render such an opinion. See Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F. 3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2007). Nevertheless, a medical opinion was obtained to consider the Veteran’s contention, but ultimately the medical professional found that the evidence did not medically support the Veteran’s contention. In sum, the evidence is insufficient to establish that Veteran’s left knee disabilities occurred during or within one year after separation from service, or were otherwise caused by his service. Service connection is denied. MATTHEW W. BLACKWELDER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Q. Wang, Associate Counsel