The Board has determined that there is sufficient evidence to establish service connection for a thoracic, upper and lower back disability due to the Veteran's active duty service. The Veteran was treated for thoracic strain and back pain during her military service and continues to experience symptoms since then.
The deciding factor: The continuity of the Veteran’s arthritic symptoms since service is established by her STRs and subsequent treatment records, meeting the criteria for direct service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the spine
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- October 26, 2020
- Citation
- A20016015
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,092 · Granted: 42% (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 A20016015.
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 granted service connection for degenerative disc disease of the spine, and osteoarthritis of the right shoulder and left shoulder based on evidence showing that these conditions had onset during active military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's DDD of the spine is not rated higher than 10 percent.,Left and right lower extremity radiculopathy are each rated at 20 percent.,Bilateral pes planus is rated at 50 percent, effective October 5, 2023.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for a higher evaluation for his service-connected lumbar spine condition is denied as the evidence does not support an increased rating beyond 20 percent. The Board found that the Veteran’s forward flexion was limited to at most 40 degrees with pain, which did not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions and new contentions from the Veteran's representative. The Veteran is seeking service connection for degenerative disc disease of the spine, which was previously denied in April 2016.
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