The Board has granted service connection for sciatica of the bilateral lower extremities as secondary to service-connected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine. The initial rating for a lumbosacral spine disability remains denied.
The deciding factor: The January 2014 VA medical opinion found that the Veteran's DDD of the lumbar spine would likely cause bilateral sciatica in his lower extremities, and this is considered sufficient to establish service connection on a secondary basis.
- Claimed conditions
- sciatica of the bilateral lower extremities
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- December 10, 2019
- Citation
- 19192194
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,990 · Granted: 35% (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 19192194.
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 remands the claim for service connection for sciatica of the bilateral lower extremities to the AOJ for correction of an error by the AOJ in satisfying a regulatory or statutory duty.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection are remanded due to a duty-to-assist error. The AOJ needs to confirm dates of active duty training (ADT) and inactive duty training (IDT) service, obtain financial records from DFAS, and any outstanding service treatment records related to ADT and/or IDT service subsequent to his April 1991 demobilization examination.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities have made him in need of the regular aid and attendance of another person, warranting SMC based on this need.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied service connection for left hip pain and right hip pain, but has remanded the issue of service connection for sciatica of the bilateral lower extremities due to a lack of adequate examination.
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