The veteran's low back disability was rated at 60 percent from December 14, 2001 to February 6, 2005 and remains at 60 percent since April 1, 2005.
The deciding factor: The veteran experienced incapacitating episodes of intervertebral disc syndrome with characteristic pain and demonstrable muscle spasm during the past 12 months, warranting a 60 percent evaluation under Diagnostic Code 5243.
- Claimed conditions
- Low back strain with degenerative disc disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 60%
- Decision date
- March 8, 2006
- Citation
- 0606740
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,421 · Granted: 29% (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 0606740.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for increased ratings due to insufficient retrospective medical opinions addressing additional functional loss during flareups and with repeated use over time. The VA needs to obtain new addendum opinions for both cervical spine and low back disabilities.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities did not render him unemployable prior to May 21, 2012. The Board found that the evidence did not support his claim for a TDIU on an extraschedular basis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's low back disability is being remanded for a new evaluation to determine its current severity.
- Granted
The Veteran's sciatica, right lower extremity is now rated at 40 percent effective July 7, 2021. The low back strain with degenerative disc disease remains rated at 40 percent. The rating for sciatica prior to December 2, 2019 was denied.
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