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
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,036 · Granted: 27% (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 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for increased disability ratings for chronic left ankle sprain, right ankle strain, and thoracolumbar strain are being remanded due to duty-to-assist errors in the prior examinations.
- 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The appeal for both the disability rating and service connection claims has been withdrawn by the Veteran's attorney.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 Veteran's back disability is rated at 10 percent, and the Board has remanded his claims for increased ratings for right and left lower extremity radiculopathy associated with his service-connected thoracolumbar strain.
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