The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for a cervical spine disorder and higher rating for her low back strain. The Board also did not grant TDIU due to insufficient evidence showing she is unemployable.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners found that the Veteran's neck condition was unrelated to her military service, including indirectly by way of her service-connected low back strain. They also could not differentiate between the extent of disability attributable to her service-connected and nonservice-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical spine disorder (neck condition), Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of lumbar spine, Degenerative joint disease (DJD) of lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 17, 2010
- Citation
- 1043301
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 1043301.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's RLE radiculopathy is now rated at 20 percent effective from February 15, 2018. Other conditions remain unchanged.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's right knee disability, which required a total knee arthroplasty in December 2014, is as likely as not caused by his service-connected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability rating for low back strain has been restored to 20 percent effective May 1, 2015. The matter of a higher rating is remanded due to the possibility of improvement.
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