The Veteran is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due to his service-connected chronic low back strain with mild degenerative changes, and the Board grants TDIU.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service-connected chronic low back strain with mild degenerative changes alone precludes him from obtaining and maintaining substantially gainful employment.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic low back strain with mild degenerative changes
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- April 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19126759
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,316 · Granted: 43% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19126759.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's service-connected chronic low back strain with mild degenerative changes is rated at 40 percent, but the Board finds that he may be unemployable due to his disability. The case is being referred for extraschedular TDIU consideration.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's gouty arthritis, hiatal hernia with esophageal reflux, and chronic low back strain with mild degenerative changes are all rated at the maximum allowable under their respective diagnostic codes.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's lumbar spine disability, claimed as a chronic low back strain with mild degenerative changes, was not related to his active service. The residuals of a fractured nose and tension headaches were also not shown to be related to his service.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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