The veteran's service-connected cervical spine disability is not manifested by forward flexion of the cervical spine to 15 degrees or less, by favorable ankylosis of the entire cervical spine, or by incapacitating episodes having a total duration of at least four weeks.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the evidence did not support a rating in excess of 20 percent for the veteran's service-connected cervical spine disability based on the range of motion findings and lack of evidence of ankylosis, incapacitating episodes, or other chronic orthopedic or neurologic manifestations.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical spine disability, traumatic injury to the cervical spine with degenerative changes
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- February 10, 2009
- Citation
- 0904861
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,987 · Granted: 15% (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 0904861.
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.
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The Board denied the claims of service connection for cervical spine and skin rash disabilities, finding that there is no evidence linking these conditions to active military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for miscarriage, cervical spine disability, lumbar spine disability, and right elbow disability due to insufficient examination opinions and incomplete service history verification.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for cervical and thoracolumbar spine disabilities due to a predecisional duty to assist error. The Veteran's past medical history needs to be considered in the new examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for sleep apnea and cervical spine disability due to potential service connection issues related to obesity, service-connected disabilities, and other factors.
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