Citation Nr: 20007907 Decision Date: 01/30/20 Archive Date: 01/30/20 DOCKET NO. 14-27 991 DATE: January 30, 2020 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a right elbow condition, diagnosed as tenosynovitis and epicondylitis, is granted. Entitlement to service connection for a left elbow condition, diagnosed as tenosynovitis and epicondylitis, is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran’s right elbow condition, diagnosed as tenosynovitis and epicondylitis, is etiologically related to active service. 2. The Veteran’s left elbow condition, diagnosed as tenosynovitis and epicondylitis, is etiologically related to active service. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria to establish service connection for a right elbow condition, diagnosed as tenosynovitis and epicondylitis, have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5103, 5103A, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303 (2018). 2. The criteria to establish service connection for a left elbow condition, diagnosed as tenosynovitis and epicondylitis, have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5103, 5103A, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from June 1975 to June 1979 and January 1982 to August 2001. In May 2018, the Board remanded the Veteran’s claims to the AOJ for further action consistent with the Board’s remand directives. The claims are back before the Board for further appellate proceedings. The Board finds there has been substantial compliance with its remand directives. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). A Veteran is entitled to VA disability compensation if there is a disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131. Generally, to establish a right to compensation for a present disability, a Veteran must show: (1) a present disability; (2) an 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, the so-called “nexus” requirement. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all of the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that a disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). The Veteran is currently diagnosed with right and left elbow tenosynovitis. See March 2019 VA examination report. The Veteran contends his bilateral elbow condition is due to many years of typing in an administrative setting and also playing softball during service. See July 2019 and April 2013 Veteran Statements. The Veteran’s military occupational specialties (MOS) during his second active duty period were administrative in nature. See DD-214. The Veteran’s Service Treatment Records (STRs) show complaints of joint pain. See August 2000 STRs. As to nexus, treating physical therapist T.C. related the Veteran’s bilateral elbow condition to computer work during the military. See May and September 2009 T.C. Treatment Records. T.C.’s notations regarding the etiology of the Veteran’s bilateral elbow condition are highly probative because of his expertise and treatment history of the Veteran. Within a year of separating from active service in August 2001, the Veteran sought medical treatment for his elbows. See February 2002 VA Treatment Record. The Veteran then continuously sought treatment for joint and elbow pain. See, e.g., February 2006, March 2011, and July 2014 VA Treatment Records. The record demonstrates the Veteran has been consistent in complaints about joint and elbow pain since separating from active service. See, e.g., January 2002 Veteran Statement. The Veteran is competent to testify as to facts he personally observed or described; this includes recalling what he personally felt, saw, smelled, heard, or tasted. See Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 469 (1994). As such, the Veteran is competent to attest to having bilateral elbow pain during and since separating from active service. Given the above evidence, the Board finds the Veteran’s assertions credible. The Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s bilateral elbow condition had its onset in service. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the Board finds that the Veteran’s bilateral elbow condition originated during service. (Continued on the next page) Accordingly, service connection for a right and left elbow condition, diagnosed as bilateral tenosynovitis and epicondylitis, is warranted. 38 U.S.C. §§ 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102. DONNIE R. HACHEY Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board A. Zheng, Associate 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.