The Veteran's back disability, including his congenital partial sacralization of the left L5 vertebra/lumbarization of S1 and degenerative arthritis and Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine, was not incurred or aggravated by service. The Board finds that the current back disabilities are not related to active service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner provided an opinion that the Veteran's DJD/DDD were less likely than not incurred in or caused by his reported in-service injury and found no evidence of a nexus between the Veteran's service and his DJD/DDD. The congenital partial sacralization of the left L5 vertebra/lumbarization of S1 was determined to be a static defect rather than a disease, and there is no indication that it was aggravated by an in-service event.
- Claimed conditions
- Congenital partial sacralization of the left L5 vertebra/lumbarization of S1, Degenerative arthritis and Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 16, 2016
- Citation
- 1636318
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 1636318.
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