The Board has granted initial ratings of 10 percent, 30 percent, and 40 percent for the Veteran's external cutaneous nerve radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, femoral nerve radiculopathy of both his left and right lower extremities, and nerve dysfunction radiculopathy of the left and right lower extremities, respectively. The effective dates are July 21, 2014 for the external cutaneous nerve radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, May 12, 2016 for the femoral nerve radiculopathy of both his left and right lower extremities, and May 12, 2016 for the nerve dysfunction radiculopathy of the left and right lower extremities.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's symptoms, including severe intermittent pain, moderate to severe constant pain, paresthesias, numbness, decreased muscle strength, absent reflexes in both knees and ankles, and abnormal gait due to his lumbar condition with radiculopathy, meet the criteria for a 40 percent rating under DCs 8526 and 8529.
- Claimed conditions
- External cutaneous nerve radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, Femoral nerve radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, Femoral nerve radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, Nerve dysfunction radiculopathy of the left lower extremity, Nerve dysfunction radiculopathy of the right lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 19, 2018
- Citation
- 18136460
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 18136460.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for depressive disorder and femoral nerve radiculopathy of the right lower extremity, finding that the severity of his symptoms did not warrant higher disability ratings.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of April 22, 2020, for compensable ratings and service connection for sciatic nerve radiculopathy in the right and left lower extremities.
- Denied
The Board denied entitlement to increased ratings for right ankle, right ankle scar, low back, femoral nerve, and sciatic nerve disabilities.
- Partly granted
The Board denied increased ratings for the Veteran's lower back disability, sciatic nerve radiculopathy of both lower extremities, and internal and external cutaneous nerve radiculopathies. However, it granted restoration of a 40 percent rating for sciatic nerve radiculopathy in both lower extremities from April 1, 2020, and awarded TDIU effective February 1, 2019.
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