The Board has granted service connection for a low back disorder as secondary to left hip degenerative joint disease, finding that the evidence is in equipoise regarding whether the low back disorder was caused by the service-connected left hip disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner's opinion was based on the lack of significant altered gait despite the Veteran having an antalgic gait due to left hip pain. The Board found this finding in equipoise with the possibility that the low back disorder could be related to the left hip disability.
- Claimed conditions
- low back disorder, left hip degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 26, 2019
- Citation
- 19188686
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,272 · Granted: 31% (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 19188686.
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
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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