The Board has determined that the veteran's claimed chronic cervical, lumbar, and shoulder disorders are not related to his military service. The evidence does not support a finding of in-service injury or disease leading to current disabilities.
The deciding factor: The medical opinion indicates that the veteran's current back problems are due to the wear and tear of the aging process and many years of doing martial arts, rather than any incident during service.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic cervical disorder, chronic lumbar disorder, chronic shoulder disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- December 28, 2004
- Citation
- 0434071
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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0434071.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for a chronic lumbar disability and finds that new evidence received since the last final denial supports the reopening of this claim. The Board also finds that service connection is warranted as it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's current back condition was caused by his active duty service.
- Whole decision: Partly granted
The Veteran's claims for service connection have been reopened, but the evidence does not relate to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate any of these claims.,The Veteran's claims for service connection have been reopened, and new and material evidence has been submitted that relates to an unestablished fact necessary to substantiate his claims for a chronic shoulder disorder, bilateral hearing loss, and deviated nasal septum.,,,,
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for back injury and chronic lung disorder, finding no evidence of a nexus between the disabilities and active service.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for post-operative lumbar spine degenerative disc disease with laminectomy residuals, finding that the veteran's current condition is related to his inservice trauma. The issues of service connection for chronic hearing loss disability, a chronic shoulder disorder, and a chronic hip disorder are remanded for further development.
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