The Board has determined that the veteran's DDD, DJD, and chronic lumbosacral strain do not warrant a rating higher than 40 percent prior to December 30, 1998, or from December 30, 1998.
The deciding factor: The clinical evidence does not support the assignment of ratings higher than 20 and 40 percent for DDD, DJD, and chronic lumbosacral strain due to lack of severe symptoms or pronounced intervertebral disc syndrome.
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic Lumbosacral Strain, Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD), Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- October 12, 2006
- Citation
- 0631770
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,464 · Granted: 14% (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 0631770.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) is being remanded due to a failure to provide the Veteran with a VA examination in connection with her claim. The Board finds that this was a pre-decisional duty to assist error and requires rescheduling of the examination.
- Granted
The Board has granted an effective date of August 7, 2023 for the grant of service connection for Degenerative Disc Disease and Intervertebral Disc Syndrome (also claimed as a back condition), and bilateral lower extremity sciatic neuropathy.
- Granted
The Veteran's degenerative disc disease is related to service and the Board has granted service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's cervical spine disability and right upper extremity radiculopathy were denied increased evaluations. The TDIU claim was also denied prior to August 20, 2013.
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