The Board has remanded the claim of entitlement to a total disability evaluation based on individual unemployability due to service-connected lumbosacral strain with spondylosis for further development, including an addendum VA medical opinion regarding the Veteran's ability to perform sedentary work.
The deciding factor: The previous VA examiner did not discuss the Veteran’s lay statements about his severe back pain and its impact on his ability to sit and perform sedentary work.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbosacral strain with spondylosis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- October 2, 2020
- Citation
- 20064406
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,456 · Granted: 23% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 20064406.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date of July 14, 2005 for SMC based on housebound status is granted. The decision finds that the Veteran has a single disability rated as total (left knee disability via extraschedular TDIU from February 25, 2005) and separate service-connected disabilities ratable at a combined 60 percent disabling (acquired psychiatric disorder at 70 percent from July 14, 2005), as required by the law.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's lumbosacral strain with spondylosis was granted service connection. The claims for left and right flat feet were remanded.
- Whole decision: Partly granted
The Board denied earlier effective dates for adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood, higher ratings for the same condition, a rating greater than 10 percent for tinnitus, and a rating greater than 20 percent for lumbosacral strain with spondylosis. However, it granted an earlier effective date of April 29, 2023, for tinnitus.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Veteran's initial rating for chronic orthopedic symptoms of lumbosacral strain with spondylosis is denied as the evidence does not meet the criteria for a higher than 10 percent rating.,The Veteran's initial rating for associated lumbar radiculopathy, LLE, is denied as the evidence does not meet the criteria for a higher than 10 percent rating.
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