The Board has granted service connection for degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine and peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities, finding that these conditions are related to the Veteran's active service.
The deciding factor: The medical opinions provided by private providers supported the Veteran's report of in-service trauma and concluded that his current low back condition and lower extremity neuropathy is more likely than not connected to his service.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine, Peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 23, 2018
- Citation
- 18128819
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 18128819.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's current peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral lower extremities was incurred during his period of active service, including exposure to herbicides in the Republic of Vietnam. The Board granted service connection for this condition.
- Denied
The appeal regarding the July 2, 2020 rating decision for PTSD was denied. The claims of service connection for peripheral neuropathy of the bilateral upper and lower extremities were also denied.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy were denied. The Board found that no claim was received prior to July 15, 2021 and thus the proper effective date is July 15, 2021.,The Veteran also sought an earlier effective date for his left lower extremity radiculopathy, which was similarly denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for his service-connected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine is remanded due to concerns about the adequacy of a previous examination report, which did not include measurements using a goniometer.
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