The Board denied service connection for a low back disability, other than partial sacralization of L5, finding that the Veteran's current degenerative disc disease and degenerative joint disease did not manifest to a compensable degree within the applicable presumptive period or establish continuity of symptomatology since service. The Board also found no evidence linking his current disabilities to an in-service injury.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence does not show that the Veteran's low back disability was chronic in service, manifested to a compensable degree within the applicable presumptive period; that continuity of symptomatology is established; or that disability is otherwise etiologically related to an in-service injury.
- Claimed conditions
- partial sacralization of L5, degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19154304
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 19154304.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete development of records and will provide a supplemental statement of the case if necessary.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's lumbar spine arthritis is aggravated by his service-connected bilateral knee disabilities, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Granted
The Veteran's low back disability was rated at 40% prior to September 28, 2018. From that date, the rating was increased to 50%. The earlier effective date for TDIU is denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's hypertension, left knee patellofemoral syndrome, and right knee patellofemoral syndrome have been granted service connection as secondary to his service-connected disabilities. The lumbar spine disability has also been granted but the effective date is not specified.
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