The Board found that the veteran's current low back disorder, at least in part, was caused by a lumbar strain during service and granted his claim for service connection.
The deciding factor: A VA physician causally linked the veteran's current diagnosis of lumbar degenerative disc disease to an in-service lumbar strain.
- Claimed conditions
- Back Disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 9, 2003
- Citation
- 0311959
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,419 · Granted: 21% (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 0311959.
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 decided to remand the case due to errors in obtaining medical records and for an additional medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's back disorder.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension is granted service connection, but his right ear hearing loss and back disorder claims are remanded for further evaluation.
- Denied
The Board denied the claim of service connection for a back disorder as new and relevant evidence was not received, despite previous denials.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to errors in obtaining service records and providing an adequate examination. The Veteran's back disorder claim will be reconsidered with these issues addressed.
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