The Board has determined that the Veteran's chronic thoracolumbar strain is service-connected, as there is at least a 50% likelihood (equipoise) that his current condition was incurred during military service.
The deciding factor: The evidence shows that the Veteran experienced back pain in service and continues to experience it post-service, which supports the finding of service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic thoracolumbar strain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 27, 2019
- Citation
- 19165844
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 19165844.
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 earlier effective dates for service connection for various conditions, including chronic thoracolumbar strain, radiculopathy of the bilateral lower extremities, traumatic brain injury with vertigo, and others.
- Dismissed
The appeal for both the disability rating and service connection claims has been withdrawn by the Veteran's attorney.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete VA medical opinions regarding the Veteran's service connection claim for a back disability, which may be related to his active duty service or secondary to his service-connected bilateral knee disability.
- Denied
The Veteran's initial claim for a higher evaluation for his chronic thoracolumbar strain, to include degenerative disc disease, IVDS, and status post lumbar discectomy fusion was denied.,His radiculopathy of the right lower extremity received an initial 10 percent rating. The Board found that it did not warrant a higher evaluation.
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