The Veteran's low back disability is rated at 40 percent beginning January 29, 2018. The Board has remanded the issues of rating higher than 40 percent for the lumbar spine disability and rating higher than 10 percent for the lower extremity radiculopathies.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's low back disability was characterized by frequent severe flareups and significant functional impairment due to severe pain, weakness, stiffness, and fatigability, which more nearly manifested as 30 degrees of flexion.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar spine disability, right lower extremity radiculopathy (femoral nerve), left lower extremity radiculopathy (femoral nerve), right lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic nerve), left lower extremity radiculopathy (sciatic nerve)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 40%
- Decision date
- October 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20068019
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including prostate cancer and related disabilities, urinary incontinence, sleep apnea, hypertension, varicose veins, lumbar spine disability, hip arthritis, shoulder arthritis, ankle arthritis, knee strain, knee replacement, and hand arthritis. The only condition granted was a 10 percent rating for a fracture of the right proximal first metacarpal.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for multiple conditions, including bilateral hearing loss and various musculoskeletal issues, as well as an initial rating in excess of 0 percent for rhinitis. However, the Board granted a 70 percent rating for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for right knee, right hip, and lumbar spine disabilities as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected left knee disability but denied a rating in excess of 30 percent for his left knee disability prior to April 25, 2019.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeals for service connection for a bilateral knee disability, bilateral upper and lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, lumbar spine disability, cervical spine disability, and chronic pain syndrome due to untimely notices of disagreement.
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