The Veteran's lumbar spine disability is rated at 20 percent, effective July 9, 2013. His bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy is currently rated at 10 percent.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's lumbar spine disability has been found to have forward flexion of the thoracolumbar spine limited to 45 degrees with guarding and/or muscle spasm resulting in an abnormal spinal contour, which meets the criteria for a 20 percent rating under Diagnostic Code 5243.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease of lumbosacral spine, Bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic nerve)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- July 17, 2017
- Citation
- 1727704
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 1727704.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted initial ratings of 70 percent for a psychiatric disability, 40 percent for a low back disability, and 20 percent each for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy involving the sciatic nerve and femoral nerve. The claim for an initial rating greater than 30 percent for irritable bowel syndrome was denied.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for low back disability, finding that the Veteran's low back disability had its onset during active duty and has continued since then.
- Granted
The Board granted earlier effective dates of June 18, 1992 for the lumbar spine condition and January 7, 1999 for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy (femoral and sciatic nerves).
- Denied
The Veteran's bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy was evaluated at 10 percent, and the issues of entitlement to increased evaluations were denied.
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