The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his thoracic spine, lumbar spine, and cervical spine disabilities. The evaluations were found to be appropriate based on the current symptoms and diagnostic criteria.
The deciding factor: The new criteria did not provide a basis for granting higher ratings as they did not indicate any additional functional impairment or chronic manifestations that would warrant higher evaluation under the revised criteria.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative joint disease of thoracic spine, Syringomyelia with Arnold-Chiari malformation and degenerative joint disease of cervical spine, Thoracic strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 17, 2006
- Citation
- 0607744
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,642 · Granted: 19% (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 0607744.
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 Board has denied the Veteran's claim for a total disability rating based upon individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities (TDIU) as there is no evidence that he is unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment due to his service-connected conditions.
- Granted
The Board has granted an increased rating of 40 percent for thoracic strain throughout the review period, which represents a full grant of benefits sought on appeal.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for a rating in excess of 20 percent for his thoracic spine disability was denied by the Board, as his current range of motion does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a rating in excess of 10 percent for the service-connected thoracic strain and dismissed the appeal regarding the proposal to sever service connection for vitamin D deficiency.
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