The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for muscle contraction headaches, finding that there was no evidence to support a connection between the condition and his active service or any service-connected disability.
The deciding factor: The VHA physician concluded that the veteran's current headache disability is unrelated to head trauma during service and not related to his service-connected left eardrum disability. The Board found the medical evidence against the claim more probative than the private physician's opinion, which was based on the history as provided by the veteran.
- Claimed conditions
- muscle contraction headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 15, 2008
- Citation
- 0816063
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 0816063.
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a higher initial rating of 70 percent for the Veteran's service-connected somatic symptom disorder with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety, as well as a higher rating of 50 percent for muscle contraction headaches. However, it denied a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) based on a single service-connected disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's TDIU claim is being remanded due to the need for additional VA medical records and completion of a VA Form 21-8940.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims of increased ratings for various service-connected disabilities are remanded due to the need for additional examinations and evaluations.,The Veteran's cervical spine disability claim is also remanded as an adequate VA examination was not provided in the previous February 2015 neck conditions examination.
- Granted
The Board has granted an initial 50 percent rating for chronic headaches, variously diagnosed as migraine headaches, tension headaches, and muscle contraction headaches. The issue of entitlement to a TDIU is also on appeal.
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