Citation Nr: 20007432 Decision Date: 01/30/20 Archive Date: 01/29/20 DOCKET NO. 19-18 085 DATE: January 30, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement a rating in excess of 10 percent for right knee strain with ACL tear since January 1, 2018. Entitlement to a compensable initial rating for right knee arthroscopic surgery scar. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from July 2011 to July 2015. These matters come to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from rating decisions by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). An October 2017 rating decision granted a temporary total evaluation for the right knee for a period of post-surgical convalescence and then a 10 percent rating, effective November 1, 2017. A December 2017 rating decision granted service connection for the right knee scar and extended the temporary total evaluation to December 28, 2017, at which point the 10 percent rating resumed. Finally, an April 2018 rating decision extended the temporary total evaluation to January 1, 2018. The Veteran filed a notice of disagreement (NOD) in April 2018 disagreeing with the 10 percent rating assigned to his right knee disability and the noncompensable rating assigned to the right knee scar. In his NOD, June 2019 VA Form 9, and the Appellate Brief filed by his representative in November 2019, the Veteran described symptoms that suggested that his right knee and scar had become worse since the most recent VA examination in November 2017. Therefore, the appeal is remanded so that another VA examination may be scheduled. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Associate any outstanding, relevant treatment notes with the claims folder. 2. Schedule the Veteran for an examination to assess the current nature and severity of his right knee and scar disabilities. The claims file must be made available to the examiner in conjunction with the examination. The examiner should identify all right knee symptoms found to be present. The examiner should conduct all indicated tests and studies, to include range of motion studies. Range of motion should be tested and reported in 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 the case of the left knee). If the examiner is unable to conduct the required testing or concludes that the required testing is not necessary in this case, he or she should clearly explain why that is so. The examiner should describe any pain, weakened movement, excess fatigability, instability of station and incoordination present. The examiner should also state whether the examination is taking place during a period of flare-up. If not, the examiner should ask the Veteran to describe the flare-ups he experiences, including: frequency, duration, characteristics, precipitating and alleviating factors, severity and/or extent of functional impairment he experiences during a flare-up of symptoms and/or after repeated use over time. Based on the Veteran’s lay statements and the other evidence of record, the examiner should provide an opinion estimating any additional degrees of limited motion caused by functional loss during a flare-up or after repeated use over time. If the examiner cannot estimate the degrees of additional range of motion loss during flare-ups or after repetitive use without resorting to speculation, the examiner should state whether the need to speculate is caused by a deficiency in the state of general medical knowledge (i.e. no one could respond given medical science and the known facts) or by a deficiency in the record or the examiner (i.e. additional facts are required, or the examiner does not have the needed knowledge or training). MICHELLE P. KATZ Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board K. M. Schaefer, Counsel The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.