The veteran's claims for increased ratings for cervical spine degenerative joint disease and myofascial pain syndrome of the lumbar spine with disc protrusion at L4-5 were denied as his conditions did not meet the criteria for higher ratings under the applicable rating criteria.
The deciding factor: The veteran's conditions did not result in incapacitating episodes or unfavorable ankylosis, which are required for higher ratings under the current rating criteria.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative Joint Disease of the Cervical Spine, Myofascial Pain Syndrome of the Lumbar Spine with Disc Protrusion at L4-5
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- June 28, 2004
- Citation
- 0417195
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,643 · Granted: 15% (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 0417195.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine was found to not meet the criteria for a higher disability rating, as it did not result in forward flexion of 15 degrees or less and there was no evidence of favorable ankylosis of the entire cervical spine.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and chronic sinusitis. However, it granted an increased disability rating of 30 percent for left upper extremity radiculopathy.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's GERD was granted a 60 percent disability rating, and the June 15, 2020 VA Form 10182 for service connection claims was accepted as timely due to good cause shown.
- Granted
The Veteran's low back disability was restored to a 20 percent rating effective February 24, 2022. The other issues were denied.
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