Citation Nr: 20021041 Decision Date: 03/24/20 Archive Date: 03/24/20 DOCKET NO. 18-02 944 DATE: March 24, 2020 ORDER Service connection for a left knee disability is granted. FINDING OF FACT Affording the Veteran the benefit of the doubt, his current left knee disorder onset in active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a left knee disability have been met. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service from February 1995 to November 2002. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2014 rating decision of the Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In January 2020, the Veteran appeared and provided testimony at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ). Service Connection – Left Knee Disability 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. § 1110; 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. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). The Veteran seeks service connection for a left knee disability. A September 2013 private treatment record shows that the Veteran was then assessed with bilateral knee tendinitis. Thus, the current disability prong of this claim for service connection has been met with regard to the Veteran’s left knee claim. Further, the Veteran has consistently reported in written lay statements submitted in support of his claim and in statements made to medical providers that his left knee pain began in service, not long after he injured his right knee. Specifically, in a written statement submitted in September 2014, the Veteran wrote that, at the time of his discharge from service, both his knees were bothering him with dull pain, which worsened and with which he continued to live from 2002 to 2013, when he finally sought medical treatment post-service for his knee pain. A private treatment note dated June 4, 2014 from Sandford Health also reflects that the Veteran reported the onset of his left knee pain symptoms to have been in active service. In addition, the Veteran testified before the Board in January 2020 regarding the onset of his left knee symptoms. Although the Veteran expressed his belief that his left knee symptoms were due to his gait having to compensate for his service-connected right knee disability, he did also report that his left knee pain began in service and was still painful when he separated from service. He testified further that his left knee symptoms continued since that time. There is no evidence of record indicating that his left knee symptoms preexisted his active service, nor is there any evidence of record disputing his reports of continuing to experience these symptoms since that time (and ultimately being diagnosed as left knee tendinitis for the same symptoms). Thus, the evidence supports a finding that the Veteran’s left knee disability symptomatology began in service. He is competent to report what he has experienced through his senses, and the Board has no reason to question the credibility of his reports regarding the timeline of his symptomatology onset. Affording the benefit of the doubt to the Veteran, the Board finds that he has been experiencing symptoms of a left knee disability since service. Thus, service connection is warranted for his left knee disability, as it is a current disability which onset during his active service. THERESA M. CATINO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Davidoski, 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.