The veteran's appeal is being remanded for a VA examination to determine the current severity of his service-connected recurrent low back strain, and for readjudication under both old and new VA rating criteria.
The deciding factor: The case requires further evaluation due to changes in VA rating criteria for lumbar spine disabilities that have not yet been addressed.
- Claimed conditions
- Recurrent low back strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 14, 2004
- Citation
- 0412607
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,582 · Granted: 32% (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 0412607.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's recurrent low back strain was granted a 40% rating from June 13, 2012 to April 27, 2014. Prior to this period and after it, the condition did not warrant higher ratings.
- Denied
The Veteran's recurrent low back strain is currently rated at 10 percent, but the Board found that it does not meet the criteria for a higher rating based on the current evidence.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection and higher ratings for various conditions, including an acquired psychiatric disorder, bilateral hearing loss, sleep apnea, cyst in pancreas, right and left Achilles tendonitis, hemorrhoids, residuals of a cholecystectomy, cataracts and glaucoma, chronic kidney disease with hypertension, and coronary artery disease. The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral knee arthritis has been reopened.
- Denied
The application to reopen the claim of recurrent low back strain was granted, but service connection for this condition is denied.,Service connection for bilateral hallux valgus and onychomycosis were both denied.
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