The Veteran's right lower extremity sciatic radiculopathy is rated at 20% prior to March 20, 2017 and 10% since then. The left lower extremity sciatic radiculopathy remains rated at 10%. A separate rating for post-operative tear of the right wrist with sprain and tendonitis was granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's right lower extremity sciatic radiculopathy is manifested by moderate incomplete paralysis prior to March 20, 2017 and mild incomplete paralysis since then. The left lower extremity sciatic radiculopathy is also manifested by mild incomplete paralysis throughout the appeal period.
- Claimed conditions
- Sciatic radiculopathy, Degenerative disc disease, lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- October 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19177817
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,757 · Granted: 23% (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 19177817.
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 Veteran's claim of service connection for degenerative disc disease, lumbar spine (claimed as back injury) due to inadequate VA examination and failure to comply with prior remand directives.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for a higher rating for degenerative disc disease, lumbar spine was dismissed due to concurrent election of review options.
- Granted
The Veteran's service connection claims for degenerative disc disease, lumbar spine, with muscle spasms; right elbow pain; and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy/ sciatica as secondary to the back disability have all been granted.
- Denied
The Board denied an earlier effective date for the grant of TDIU due to lack of factual support and found that the Veteran's unemployability was not a result of his service-connected conditions during the one-year look-back period.
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