The Board finds that the evidence is in equipoise as to whether the veteran's current low back disability is related to his active service. Service connection for a low back disability is granted.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners found some chronic residuals of the low back injury from service, and opined that the veteran's initial injury in Vietnam was temporary because he had no further complaints upon return to the United States.
- Claimed conditions
- low back pain, degenerative changes of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 11, 2006
- Citation
- 0600918
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,377 · Granted: 17% (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 0600918.
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.
- Granted
The claim for service connection of a low back disability was reopened due to the submission of new and material evidence. The claim is denied as there is no evidence that the current condition is related to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claims for heart disease, hypertension, kidney disease, and low back pain due to potential errors in duty to assist. The AOJ is required to verify the Veteran's alleged exposure to herbicide agents and obtain private treatment records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for left lower extremity radiculopathy, which is secondary to her degenerative changes of the lumbar spine, has been remanded due to a duty-to-assist error. The Board found that VA did not obtain private medical records from Hiro Chiropractic and Springfield Family Physicians, who treated the Veteran during the period on appeal.
- Granted
The Board has granted an effective date of February 26, 2011 for the award of service connection for low back pain with left sacroiliac dysfunction based on new evidence received after a final denial.
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