The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for his thoracic spine disability was granted, with an effective date of December 28, 2016. The current evaluation is 40 percent.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran’s forward flexion was limited to 30 degrees or less from December 28, 2016 onwards, which meets the criteria for a 40% rating under the general rating formula for diseases and injuries of the spine.
- Claimed conditions
- Osteoarthritis of the thoracic spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- May 10, 2017
- Citation
- 1715720
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 1715720.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims of service connection for a back condition and left knee condition due to inadequate factual basis in previous VA opinions, and failure to consider the Veteran's lay statements regarding continued pain since service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for a thoracic spine disability, but has remanded the issues of service connection for left shoulder, right shoulder, and plantar fasciitis disabilities.
- Granted
The Board finds that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran's current osteoarthritis of the thoracic spine developed as a result of his active service, and grants service connection for this disability.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for increased ratings for postoperative lumbar herniated disc and osteoarthritis of the thoracic spine were denied as there was no evidence to support higher disability ratings under the applicable rating criteria.
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