The Board denied the veteran's requests for increased ratings for his right (dominant) shoulder strain and cervical spine strain, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on limitation of motion or other functional impairment.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found no objective evidence of painful motion, weakness, fatigue, lack of endurance, instability, or any disability related to dislocation, malunion, fibrous union, nonunion, or bony abnormality in the right shoulder. For the cervical spine, there was no clinical evidence of sprain, strain, or rupture of the rotator cuff, and the examiner believed that symptoms were primarily due to neurological impairment.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical spine strain, Right (dominant) shoulder strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 25, 2006
- Citation
- 0633079
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,582 · Granted: 32% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0633079.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted service connection for cervical spine strain, right wrist sprain, right knee strain, left knee strain, and right ankle strain. The disabilities are all deemed to have begun during the Veteran's active duty.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claim of service connection for a neck disorder, as it is insufficiently addressed in the previous decision. The case will be sent back for an addendum opinion.
- Whole decision: 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.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Board has granted a 20 percent rating for the Veteran's cervical spine strain from October 24, 2011. The effective date is set at that time.
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