The Board has granted a 10 percent evaluation for degenerative arthritis of the thoracic spine and lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, effective from October 1990.
The deciding factor: The VA examination confirmed that the veteran's back disability had progressively worsened over time, warranting an increased rating.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative arthritis of the thoracic spine, Lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- March 27, 2003
- Citation
- 0305844
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 999 · Granted: 31% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0305844.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for degenerative arthritis of the thoracic spine, left hand strain, and left ankle strain due to incomplete development of the record.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for an acquired psychiatric disorder and lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis to obtain additional evidence.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for a lumbar spine disorder, namely lumbar spondylosis, lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, and intervertebral disc syndrome as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected retropatellar syndrome, arthritis and meniscal strain, right knee.
- Granted
The Board granted earlier effective dates of January 13, 2021, for the assignment of a 50 percent evaluation for sinusitis, a 40 percent evaluation for lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis, and a 10 percent evaluation for left knee disability with instability (DC 5257). The claim for an earlier effective date than January 25, 2019, for the assignment of a 10 percent evaluation for left knee disability with limited flexion (DC 5260) was denied.
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