The veteran's claim for service connection for residuals of a back injury is denied as there is no credible medical evidence or opinion establishing a reasonable basis for associating any current back problems with an incident in service.
The deciding factor: There are no chronic residuals of a back injury documented in service records, and the first clinical findings of degenerative changes were decades after service.
- Claimed conditions
- back injury, degenerative changes, scoliosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 5, 2007
- Citation
- 0716491
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 0716491.
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 denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a back condition, including degenerative disc disease and scoliosis, due to lack of current disability evidence.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of evidence regarding the etiology of the Veteran's cervical spine disorder and an incomplete record of chiropractic care. The Veteran is requested to provide or authorize VA to obtain his treatment records from chiropractors, and an addendum opinion will be provided by a VA examiner.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for a left knee strain with degenerative changes, finding that the Veteran's current condition is related to his in-service injury.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to deficiencies in the duty to assist, and will require a VA examination to determine if the Veteran's pre-existing scoliosis and/or additional lumbar vertebra clearly and unmistakably existed prior to service and whether any increase in severity during service was due to natural progression.
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