Back / lumbar spine decisions — 2025

The Board denied service connection for sleep apnea, a low back disability, and hypertension as the evidence did not show these conditions were related to the Veteran's military service.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for various disorders to correct duty to assist errors and obtain additional medical opinions.

The Board denied service connection for PTSD, cold weather injury residuals affecting the hands, and degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine. The claims for radiculopathy of the upper extremities and headaches were remanded.

The Board remands the claims for service connection for a back condition and cervical spine condition as additional medical opinions are needed.

The Board granted a 30 percent disability rating for tension headaches from September 10, 2021, to August 27, 2022, and denied increased ratings for other conditions.

The Board granted service connection for sinusitis as presumptively due to particulate matter exposure and assigned initial ratings of 20 percent, 10 percent, 10 percent, and 70 percent for a thoracolumbar spine disability, right knee limitation of flexion, right knee instability, and psychiatric disability, respectively.

The Board granted service connection for a migraine headache disorder and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected disabilities, and assigned a 10 percent rating for his lumbar area surgical scar. The remaining claims were remanded for further development.

The Board denied service connection for cervical spine, right shoulder, lumbar spine, bilateral hip, and bilateral knee disabilities. The Board also denied an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for bilateral plantar fasciitis, a higher initial rating for bilateral plantar fasciitis, and an earlier effective date for a 50 percent disability rating for schizophrenia. However, the Board granted a 70 percent disability rating from December 14, 2021, for schizophrenia and a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU).

The Board remands the claims for service connection for various conditions, including bilateral flat foot, left and right knee disorders, left leg disorder, right hip disorder, prostate disorder, lower back disorder, and bilateral lower extremity neuropathy/radiculopathy, to cure pre-decisional duty to assist errors.

The Board denied service connection for shin splints, right leg and left leg, but dismissed the appeal for lumbosacral strain as granted in a previous rating decision.

The Board granted service connection for right leg pain, left leg pain, right foot pain, and left foot pain, restored a 20 percent rating for lumbosacral strain effective March 1, 2021, denied increased ratings for tinnitus, lumbosacral strain, and right hip strain, granted an earlier effective date for depression, and granted TDIU.

The Board granted service connection for a low back disability, finding that the Veteran's symptoms started during active service and continued thereafter.

The Board denied an increased rating for lumbosacral strain but granted initial ratings of 20 percent for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy, and remanded the claim for service connection for a right knee disability.

The Board denied service connection for a right hip disorder and a low back disorder, finding no evidence linking these conditions to the Veteran's active service.

The Veteran is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to service-connected disabilities effective April 20, 2015.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a right wrist fracture disability, low back disability, and glaucoma as there was no evidence to support that these conditions were related to his active duty service.

The Veteran's eczema and seborrheic dermatitis was granted a rating of 60 percent, but no higher, for the appeal period beginning on March 24, 2024. The lumbar spine disorder claim is remanded.

The Board remands the issues of entitlement to a disability rating in excess of 40 percent for polyradiculopathy L3-5 active (sciatic) and in excess of 50 percent for degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine with intervertebral disc syndrome, for the period from July 23, 2013, to present, for further development.

The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date of service connection for a compression fracture of the thoracolumbar spine, finding that the evidence did not support an earlier effective date prior to August 7, 2012.

The Board granted service connection for multiple conditions, including right and left shoulder strains with degenerative arthritis, right and left hip degenerative arthritis, left ankle degenerative arthritis with chronic instability and anterior talofibular ligament strain, cervical spine degenerative disc disease with degenerative arthritis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and obstructive sleep apnea, all of which are secondary to service-connected disabilities.