The Veteran's degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine is caused or aggravated by his service connected bilateral pes planus, and the Board has granted this claim.
The deciding factor: The opinion from a private chiropractor indicated that the Veteran’s pes planus caused compensatory gait which led to chronic instability and imbalance in the pelvis and cervical spine, causing pain and reduced function. The VA examiner's opinion was less likely than not due to or the result of the service-connected bilateral pes planus.
- Claimed conditions
- Degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 13, 2020
- Citation
- 20066041
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 a cervical spine disability to obtain an adequate medical opinion addressing both causation and aggravation.
- Denied
The Board denied higher ratings for the Veteran's knee and cervical spine disabilities, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating under applicable criteria.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine has prevented him from securing and maintaining substantially gainful occupation, and he is granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) and special monthly compensation (SMC) at the housebound rate.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not preclude him from securing and following any substantially gainful employment prior to June 14, 2022.
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