The Board has denied service connection for a cervical spine disability and headaches. The Veteran's cervical spine symptoms were not chronic in service, did not manifest to a compensable degree within one year of separation, and have not been continuous since service, nor are they otherwise etiologically related to service.,The Veteran's current headaches are not etiologically related to service.
The deciding factor: Service connection is not warranted for the cervical spine disability as there is no evidence of chronicity of care and the examiner found that the current cervical spine arthritis was less likely than not related to his 1988 motor vehicle accident.,Service connection is not warranted for headaches as there is no medical evidence establishing a link between the Veteran's in-service complaints of headaches and his current disability, and continuity of symptomatology has not been established.
- Claimed conditions
- Cervical Spine Disability, Headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 15, 2020
- Citation
- 20067029
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,451 · Granted: 22% (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 20067029.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Granted
The Veteran's cervical spine disability, right knee strain (painful motion), and right knee instability are now rated at 30 percent effective August 16, 2017.
- Granted
The Veteran's OSA is granted as secondary to PTSD, but his headaches are denied due to lack of service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's headaches, which manifested as very frequent and prolonged attacks causing severe economic inadaptability, are granted a 50 percent disability rating for the entire period on appeal.
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