The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for lumbar strain with degenerative arthritis (low back disability), finding that there is no evidence of a nexus between his current low back disability and his active duty service or a service-connected cervical spine disability.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners found no evidence supporting the contention that the Veteran's current back condition is due to minor in-service injuries, and concluded that the Veteran’s low back disability is not proximately due to or the result of a service-connected cervical spine disability.
- Claimed conditions
- lumbar strain with degenerative arthritis (low back disability)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2020
- Citation
- 20068431
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,446 · Granted: 21% (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 20068431.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted a 40 percent disability rating for the low back disability from August 2, 2011 to April 5, 2019. The Veteran's condition was characterized by painful limitation of motion and muscle spasms in the thoracolumbar spine.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial evaluation in excess of 10 percent for his service-connected coronary artery disease, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating based on the severity of his condition.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected musculoligamentous strain, right knee, is currently rated at 10 percent and the Board finds that a higher rating is not warranted.
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