The Veteran's service connection claim for a low back disability is granted. The Veteran's claim for an increased rating for bruxism, status post TMJ, before March 14, 2019, is denied. The Veteran's claims for service connection for a neck disability and bilateral upper extremity radiculopathy are remanded.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran had a current diagnosis of spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease of the low back, which developed in service and has persisted since then. The VA examinations conducted during the claim period adequately captured the functional impairment associated with the disability, including pain, contributing to the interincisal range measurement used for rating purposes.
- Claimed conditions
- low back disability, neck disability, bilateral upper extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19162919
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,934 · Granted: 41% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19162919.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claim for service connection of a neck disability due to pre-decisional error in not obtaining a VA examination and medical opinion.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that remand is needed for the Veteran's claims due to duty to assist errors, including clarification of periods of service and obtaining relevant records. The Veteran will be afforded new medical examinations for each claimed disability.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for neck and back disabilities due to a lack of medical evidence supporting the Veteran's assertions. The VA will obtain an examination and provide an opinion on whether these disabilities are related to service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claims of right shoulder disability and low back disability due to insufficient evidence.
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