The veteran's claim for service connection was denied in January 1990. The RO reopened the claim and granted service connection for ankylosing spondylitis of the lumbar spine, thoracic spin, and cervical spine on May 21, 2001. The effective date is set by law to be May 21, 2001.
The deciding factor: The claim was denied in January 1990, but reopened and granted service connection for the conditions on May 21, 2001, which is the earliest date that the veteran's request to reopen his claim was received.
- Claimed conditions
- ankylosing spondylitis of the lumbar spine, ankylosing spondylitis of the thoracic spin, ankylosing spondylitis of the cervical spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2006
- Citation
- 0600458
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,500 · Granted: 17% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0600458.
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 determined that the Veteran's ankylosing spondylitis of the lumbar spine is related to service and grants service connection for this condition.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for ankylosing spondylitis of the cervical spine and lumbar spine, finding that it is at least as likely as not related to environmental factors during active military service. Service connection was also granted for a bilateral hip condition, but this issue is remanded due to insufficient medical opinion regarding its relationship to service-connected conditions.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran is seeking to have the effective dates for his service-connected conditions and TDIU revised due to a claimed error in the original rating decisions. The Board has determined that these claims should be remanded for further action.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for chronic thoracolumbar pain, segmental and somatic dysfunction of the lumbar and thoracic region, ankylosing spondylitis of the cervical spine, neuralgia sciatic nerve, and neuralgia of all three radicular groups.,The Board also remanded the issue of a disability rating in excess of 10 percent for stress fracture right inferior pubic ramus.
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