The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a back disability, finding that her current back disability is not related to any in-service event or injury and that her service-connected knee disabilities and fibromyalgia did not cause or aggravate her back disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that there is no evidence to correlate the Veteran's back pain with any specific incident during service, and that her knee disability does not result in major gait disturbance that would put undue stress on her back. The examiner also stated that fibromyalgia is not a contributing cause to degenerative joint disease of the spine.
- Claimed conditions
- back disability, bilateral knee disabilities, fibromyalgia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19148920
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for scarring, right orchiopexy and remanded the claim of asbestos exposure residuals. Other claims for service connection were denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for a back disability due to a duty to assist error, specifically regarding VA's failure to provide the Veteran with a VA examination prior to the rating decision.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for asthma and remanded claims for insomnia and sleep apnea. Other conditions were denied.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeals for service connection for fibromyalgia and Gulf War unexplained chronic multi-symptom illness, bronchus, as well as an extension of the temporary 100 percent disability evaluation.
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