Citation Nr: 21006481
Decision Date: 02/04/21	Archive Date: 02/04/21

DOCKET NO. 20-00 348
DATE: February 4, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to a rating in excess of 10 percent for a right knee disability is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Navy from July 2005 to June 2007. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from an August 2016 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In December 2020, the Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. 

In November 2018, the Veteran reported to a VA examination for the right knee. The examiner, however, did not provide measurements for flexion and extension after repetitive use testing or during flare-ups. Moreover, the Veteran testified at the December 2020 hearing that his right knee disability has worsened since the November 2018 examination. See Hearing transcript at 10. Thus, remand is necessary to obtain an updated VA examination, and any outstanding relevant treatment records should also be secured.  

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Obtain any outstanding VA treatment records.

2. With any necessary assistance from the Veteran, obtain all outstanding relevant private treatment records.

3. Then schedule the Veteran for a knee examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the current severity of his service-connected right knee disability. The entire claims file should be made available to the examiner. After reviewing the claims file, the examiner should provide a full description of the disability and report all signs and symptoms necessary for evaluating the Veteran’s disability under the rating criteria.  

The examiner should conduct all indicated tests and studies, to include range of motion studies. For the range of motion study, each of the joints involved should be tested for pain (1) on active motion, (2) on passive motion, (3) in weight-bearing, and (4) in nonweight-bearing.  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.

Please also provide an opinion describing functional impairment of the Veteran’s right knee, accounting for pain, incoordination, weakened movement, and excess fatigability on use, and, to the extent possible, report such impairment in terms of additional degrees of limitation of motion.  If the examiner is unable to provide such an opinion without resort to speculation, the examiner must provide a rationale for this conclusion, with specific consideration of the instructions in the VA Clinician’s Guide to estimate, “per [the] veteran,” what extent, if any, flare-ups affect functional impairment. 

 

S. BUSH

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	D. deBruyn, 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.