The Board has determined that there is at least a 50% chance the Veteran's lumbar spine condition began during service or was caused by an in-service injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: The medical evidence supports the Veteran's account of injuries sustained during basic training, which led to his current lumbar spine disability. The Board affords more weight to private opinions that connect these symptoms to military service than to a VA examiner who focused on degenerative arthritis.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine condition, disc disease and stenosis of the lumbar spine with sciatic radiculopathy of the left lower extremity
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19188649
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,592 · Granted: 19% (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 19188649.
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.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claims for service connection for a left shoulder condition and a lumbar spine condition, finding that these conditions first manifested in service and are related to his military service.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for left shoulder condition, left knee condition, lumbar spine condition (as secondary to left knee condition), right knee condition (as secondary to left knee condition), posttraumatic stress disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea (secondary to service-connected disabilities with obesity as an intermediary step).,The Board found the evidence persuasive in favor of granting service connection for these conditions.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for service connection of tinnitus, anxiety disorder, left hamstring tear, bilateral hearing loss, left knee condition, and lumbar spine condition due to improper concurrent election.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases of acute intermittent tension headaches and lumbar spine condition for further action due to errors in notice.
Free starter guide for your own claim
Reading this because you were denied or under-rated? Get the plain-English next steps — your appeal options, the deadline that protects you, and how appeals like yours turn out. One email, no spam.
We will only use this to send the guide. No spam, unsubscribe any time. We never sell your information.
We are not the VA. Veterans’ Rights is an independent resource built for veterans. We are not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, not part of the government, and not endorsed by any government agency.
This is general information, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, talk to a VA-accredited representative — many help for free.