Back / lumbar spine decisions — 2002

The Board denied reopening the veteran's claims for gastrointestinal and low back disabilities due to lack of new and material evidence.

The Board finds that the veteran's current low back disability is causally related to his in-service mountaineering injury, and thus service connection for this condition is granted.

The Board has determined that the veteran's claims for service connection have been denied as new and material evidence was not submitted to reopen them.

The Board found no clear and unmistakable error in the October 1972 rating decision denying service connection for a back condition. The effective date of the grant of service connection for degenerative disc disease with a history of lumbosacral strain and scoliosis was denied as well.

The veteran's low back disability is currently rated at 60 percent, the maximum under the applicable rating criteria. The Board finds no basis to assign a higher evaluation.

The veteran's claims for increased evaluations of residuals of anterior-lateral compartment syndrome, right and left legs, service connection for migraine headaches, sinusitis, and a low back disability were denied. The RO found that the new schedular criteria did not provide more favorable evaluation options.

The Board denied the appellant's request to reopen his claim of service connection for a back disability, finding that no new and material evidence had been submitted.

The veteran meets the requirements for specially adapted housing due to permanent and total service-connected disability, including loss of use of one lower extremity with associated organic disease or injury affecting locomotion.

The VA denied an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for the veteran's service-connected degenerative disc disease with two level disc herniation, maintaining a 20 percent disability rating.

The Board has determined that new and material evidence has not been submitted to reopen the veteran's claim for service connection for a low back disorder. The case is therefore denied.

The veteran's service-connected status post torn right gluteus minimus muscle and degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine have been granted separate 20 percent evaluations effective from July 1, 1997.

The veteran's DJD of the lumbar spine is rated at 20 percent, which meets his claim for an increased evaluation. The other issues were either not granted or are pending.

The Board has reopened the veteran's claim of service connection for a back disorder and found that new evidence submitted since the last final denial is sufficient to reopen the case. However, the evidence does not establish a causal relationship between the veteran's current back disorder and his active military service.

The Board denied service connection for a low back disability and granted increased ratings of 20% each for the veteran's right and left knee disabilities since August 24, 2000.

The veteran's service-connected low back disability results in severe limitation of motion, warranting a 40% rating.

The Board determined that the veteran's service-connected lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis and disc disease did not warrant a rating greater than 40 percent, as his disability was found to be productive of severe disablement but not pronounced intervertebral disc syndrome. The claim for total rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disability was also denied.

The Board found no evidence of a service-connected back disorder and denied the veteran's claims.

The veteran's claim for increased ratings for lumbar syndrome with narrowing disc space at L4-5 was denied. The maximum schedular evaluation of 20 percent has been in effect since July 1, 1996 and the current rating of 40 percent effective from July 21, 1999.

The Board denied an increased rating for the veteran's service-connected low back pain with degenerative disc disease, finding that the schedular criteria did not meet the requirements for a higher evaluation.

The Board found that the veteran's current low back disability is not related to his military service and denied his claim for service connection.