The Board found that the veteran's current cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine disabilities were not incurred or aggravated by active military service.
The deciding factor: The evidence did not show any chronic disability of the cervical, thoracic, or lumbar spine was present prior to service and there is no clear and unmistakable evidence showing such a pre-existing condition worsened during service. The veteran's current back disabilities are more likely related to post-service injuries and activities.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical spine injuries, thoracic spine injuries, lumbar spine injuries
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 29, 2006
- Citation
- 0627325
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,514 · 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 0627325.
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's cervical spine injuries and paraplegia are related to his service-connected back condition, and the Board has granted service connection for these conditions as secondary.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the appellant does not have any service-connected disabilities related to his military service, including brain damage, spinal cord injury, cervical, thoracic, or lumbar spine injuries, and deterioration of body function.
- Remanded (sent back)
The veteran seeks service connection for back disabilities. However, his service medical records are unavailable and presumed lost in a fire at the NPRC. The RO is instructed to obtain all relevant treatment records from the Muskogee VAMC.
- Granted
The Board of Veterans' Appeals has granted service connection for PTSD and Mood Disorders, both presumed conditions under the PACT Act.
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